After several trips to Paris my best memory is a 3 hour tour of the cemetery with a guide. We got a capsule history of Paris with our tour. I have never found a picture book of the cemetery. Does anyone know of such a book?

the only book i'm familiar with is one entitled"Paris' Permanent Residents" or something similar. Many libraries have it...or i presume Amazon.

It's called "Permanent Parisians" and I think it's out of print but you might find it at a library or used book store. Has a few black and white photos but it's mostly text. Quite interesting though.

If you go be sure to bring a map with you. There are none available at the cemetery. It is not an easy place to navigate if you don't know where you are going. You might find one at your hotel or at a local newsstand. As suggested, try books at the library or the French Tourist Office.

For what it's worth, your problem brings back a pleasant memory. My wife and I were wandering about Pere Lachaise with our Michelin Green Guide in hand, trying to find various graves and gravestones.

Mind you, we are not fluent in French and not particularly pro-French, for that matter. But an elderly gentleman came up, tipped his hat, and introduced himself, asking if we wanted some assistance. He then proceeded to give us a whirlwind, one-hour tour of the graves, all peppered with his Maurice Chevalier-accented "English." He then bid us adieu, again with the tip of the hat.

The French they are a funny race, as the old saying goes -- what a warm, helpful, and charming man he was. Our opinions of the French (as a group) improved; our opinions of the French political class remained unchanged.

It's still in Print. There is a very old one devoted completely to Pl but its in the rare book department at the Atheneum.
"Paris is famous for her croissants, her art treasures, and her general caxhet, but perhaps she is less known for her necrography. Yet nothing illustrates the slender line between life and death so well as the cemetaries of Paris. Stone figures seem to start up from their beds as if hearing a noise, or dance as if they had been turned to marble without warning. To visit these burial grounds is to be struck with wonder."..Permanent Parisians

Wags: On my visits to Pere Lachaise, I have found a free-lance vendor selling maps of it, just outside the entryway.

Elaine:been there twice and never saw anyone selling maps. Guess we were there at the wrong time. We got a map from a tourist office.

I've also been there twice and there were plenty of map vendors around at both entrances (near metro Pere Lachaise and also Gambetta). It's a real business for them. There might not be any at one of the unusual entrances if there are others, but those are the two main ones. There are also map vendors out on the main boulevards nearby, as I recall. Maybe they were all sick by coincidence the day Wags was there.

There's a free map online anyway you can print which is about the same thing
http://www.gargl.net/lachaise/

go to "carte" section
and the Michelin Green Guide has a map in it, also, for another place

Love that quote, cricket. Must get that book. You do have some interesting things to say, girl.

I took the midnight tour with two Parisians when we crawled over the gate. Found Jim Morrison's grave by following the graffiti. Went back in the following morning. Fantastic place. Drank water out of a tap in the cemetary and was told I would die. Still here.

Christina: Whatever the reason I didn't find anyone selling maps, the dig wasn't necessary.

wags, there were not any when I was there!!!!

Ignore her Wags, she is a know it all.
Has anyone seen all the cats that sit on the tombs?

Yes, when I was there, there were alot of them. Someone told me the people living in the neighborhood feed them.
My girlfriend took a picture of one tomb with several cats sitting on it.
A few people were picnicing.