The original inventory was compiled between 1615 and 1630 by Pierre Dupuy and Theodore Godefroy. This copy, like the majority of the many in existence, follows the original closely and gives in the margin the pagination of the original, to which contents-lists and indexes refer. However, volume 8 (Adv.MSS.4.1.12-4.1.13) omits this pagination (it was probably thought inessential, as the index covers only volumes 1-7) and differs slightly in arrangement.

According to a note in Adv.MS.4.1.3, folio i, this copy was made in 1713-1714 under the supervision of Henri Francois d`Aguesseau, jurist and statesman, at this time Procureur Général and ex officio in charge of the Trésor, from the copy in his keeping [not therefore directly from the original, which was already in the Bibliothèque National], for Comte Jerome Phelypaux de Pontchartrain, Secretary of State for the Navy. The copy is claimed to be `le plus exact et le plus complet de tous ceux qui se trouvent aujourdhuy répandus dans le public`. Another hand has added the note (now partially erased) that the twelve volumes were bought by the Comte de St Maure at the sale of Pontchartrain`s library.