Vat or sulphur dyes, dyeing with; printing.-Textile materials, e.g. cotton, regenerated cellulose, wool or silk, are printed or padded with vat or sulphur dyestuffs, with the use as assistant in the printing paste or padding preparation of a water-soluble salt of (a) a carboxylic ester of an aromatic carboxylic or sulphonic-carboxylic acid or of an acyclic carboxylic or sulphonic monocarboxylic acid, or (b) an N-substituted amide of an aromatic or acyclic carboxylic or sulphonic-carboxylic acid, the acid residue in all cases being free from hydroxyl groups and containing at least one carboxylic or sulphonic acid group in the form of a salt. Specified assistants are (a) salts of esters of adipic, phthalic, sulphoacetic, sulphobenzoic and sulphophthalic acids with ethyl, propyl, isopropyl, butyl, isobutyl, amyl, benzyl or cyclohexyl alcohols, glycerol, butylene glycol or diethylene glycol monobutyl ether, (b) salts of carboxylic acid amides of the same acids N-substituted by the residues of methyl, ethyl, dimethyl, dipropyl, butyl, amyl or cyclohexyl amine, ethanolamine, aniline, ethylaniline or piperidine; the water-soluble salts may be salts of, for example, sodium, potassium, ammonium, iron, copper, aniline, ethanolamine or pyridine. The paste or preparation may in addition contain one or more of the usual water-soluble alcohols, hydrotropic agents, reduction catalysts, reducing agents and/or alkalies. In examples, printing pastes are prepared (1) by mixing Ciba brown G, sodium formaldehydesulphoxylate and the potassium salt of the isobutyl ester of phthalic acid with a thickening obtained by boiling an aqueous preparation containing wheat starch, tragacanth mucilage, British gum, potassium carbonate and glycerol, (2) by mixing Ciba blue 2B with sulphite cellulose lye, evaporating, grinding the dry and powdered mixture with the potassium salt of the ethyl or isopropyl ester of phthalic acid and mixing with a thickening containing potassium carbonate and sodium formaldehydesulphoxylate, (3) as in (1) using Cibanone gold orange G as the dyestuff and the potassium salt of N-hydroxyethylphthalamic acid as the assistant, (4) as in (1) using Cibanone blue 3G as the dyestuff and the potassium salt of N:N-diethylphthalanic acid as the assistant, (5) as in (2) using as the assistant the potassium salt of N-cyclohexylphthalamic acid or of the condensation product from 4-sulphophthalic acid anhydride (1 mol.) and aniline (1 mol.), (6) as in (1) using Cibanone blue GCD as the dyestuff and the potassium salt of phthalanilic acid as the assistant, (7) by mixing Cibanone blue 3G with sulphite cellulose lye and the potassium salt of the isopropyl ester of phthalic acid, with or without addition of a hydrotropic substance or a protective colloid, drying and grinding the mixture and mixing with a thickening containing potassium carbonate and sodium formaldehydesulphoxylate, (8) by making an aqueous paste containing 2 : 1 : 21 : 11-naphthioindigo glycerol and the potassium salt of the isopropyl ester of phthalic acid, evaporating and grinding the mixture and incorporating with a usual thickening. The isopropyl and isobutyl esters of phthalic acid are obtained by heating phthalic anhydride (1 mol.) with isopropyl and isobutyl alcohol (1 mol.) respectively for 20 hours at 80-85 DEG C. N - Hydroxyethylphthalamic acid is obtained by stirring phthalic anhydride with monoethanolamine in acetone. N : N - Diethylphthalamic acid is obtained by reaction of phthalic anhydride (1 mol.) with diethylamine (1 mol.) in benzene at 70-80 DEG C. N - Cyclohexylphthalamic acid is obtained by boiling an acetone solution of phthalic anhydride and cyclohexylamine. The Specification as open to inspection under Sect. 91 comprises also a further example in which an aqueous printing paste is prepared as in (1) using, as the dyestuff, the product of sulphurizing the leuco compound of the condensation product from p-nitrosophenol and carbazole (cf. Specification 280,595, [Class 2 (iii)]). This subject-matter does not appear in the Specification as accepted.