1. In 1864, S. E. M. Duruy, Minister de l'Instruction Publique and Président de la Commission Scientifique du Mexique, had the black and white photos of the Paris Codex (then described as Manuscrit dit Mexicain No. 2 de la Bibliothèque Impériale) printed (in Paris). Few copies of this edition were printed (probably somewhere between 10 to 50); it is now quite rare indeed. However, copies of these photos appear with Gates' 1909 rendition, and with the Graz 1968 rendition of the Paris. These comprise the earliest photographic record we have of the Paris.

2. Léon de Rosny, in 1887, had printed a chromolithographic version (of 45 or 85 copies) of the Paris Codex. Since that is the version that Graz used in publishing its facsimile in 1968 (with an introduction and summary by F. Anders), it has become one of the most used versions (indirectly at least) of this codex. The Graz version in turn was used as the basis for the Chiapas version (Thomas A. Lee, Jr., "Los Códices Mayas", 1985).

Color renditions of the codices are not only beautiful to look at, but also are of importance in understanding more about the Maya through their art, and their mathematical calculations. Note that red numbers and black numbers generally have different significance: the red giving the dates, the black giving differences between dates. Nearly all zeros are written in red. Unfortunately, the lithographer did some touch-up work on the Rosny 1887 version of the codex, so the accuracy of this edition (and therefore of the later Graz and Chiapas editions also) has been compromised. This is too bad, for other than the rather stylized Gates' version, this is the only color version of this very fragile codex ever printed. The codex itself is now kept in the Fonds Mexicain, No. 386, in a sealed wooden box, with a glass cover that permits only two of its pages to be seen. The Library apparently has no intention of allowing the box to be opened, for fear that the very fragile codex would be harmed. Fortunately, the write-up that comes with the Graz edition does mention some of the differences that have been found between the Rosny color version and the photographic versions.

3. In 1888, Rosny prepared a second printing of the Paris. This time it was from black and white photographs, and 100 copies were issued. This has an excellent reputation; I have not seen it.

4. In 1909, William E. Gates published 57 copies of his facsimile version of the Paris Codex. Like his version of the Dresden, Gates’ Paris Codex is very pleasing to look at, and uses his own font. He has done a little bit of reconstruction, i.e., some numbers and other glyphs are put in although they had already been destroyed by 1909. (My personal opinion is that Gates has through the years gotten a fairly bad rap. I doubt that he was very good with people, and this may have affected our view of him some). Obviously, if he made up his own font for the glyphs, and even if only rarely reconstructed some portions (without hachuring or dotted lines), he was only asking for some inaccuracies to creep in. So, his special-font versions cannot be used without checking the photos first, which, I might add, he did include with the Paris. His rendition of the figure in the upper right corner of page 3 is better than that of the 1887 Rosny (and therefore the later Graz and Chiapas) editions, where much of the figure is missing (though present in photographs).

5. Theodore A. Willard in 1933 had published a black and white photographic facsimile in "The Codex Perez: An ancient Mayan hieroglyphic book" (Arthur H. Clarke, Glendale, California). This is the version used in Luis Azcue y Mancera's "Codice Peresiano" (Editorial Orion, México, D. F. 1967). Willard's version (and therefore Azcue's also) has some sort of enhancement done, so that it appears a bit like a black and white line drawing. Some reconstructions, with dashed lines, and some touch-ups are included. In the touch-ups, at least one error was made: for instance in the orientation of (what was originally) the green or blue "12" on page 24.

6. No discussion of the Paris Codex is complete without mentioning Bruce Love's work, "The Paris Codex: Handbook for a Maya Priest" (University of Texas Press, Austin, 1994). In it are excellent black and white photos of the Paris Codex. (Surprisingly, one is marred: the middle section of page 24, around the region of [3] K'an is imperfect). Some of these photos came from Bibliothèque Nationale ektachromes. I do not have an exact date for these ektachromes, but since ektachromes were not produced until 1942 or later, the Bibliothèque Nationale ektachromes could not have been made before that, and probably were not made before 1950 or so. In any case, these black and white photos have now become probably the most used rendition of the Paris, especially for those studying its glyphs.

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7. A work-in-progress of the Paris appears on James B. Porter's website, now (2003) at http://mayaglyphs.net/paris/paris.html. Here he has drawn a reproduction, using both the Graz 1968 edition and the Gates' edition with photographs as guides. Porter has attempted a rather extensive reconstruction (shown with hachured lines), which, along with Gates' rendition, makes one question some papers that have been published about the Paris, especially when these papers have made differing assumptions about the missing portions of the pages. This prodding in itself I feel is a good contribution to our study of the ancient Maya.

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