The original French series was published by L'Association in four volumes, one volume per year, from 2000 to 2003. Marie Ostby, professor at Connecticut College, noted that, David Beauchard, a co-founder of L'Association, strove to "create a forum for more culturally informed, self-reflective work," especially consisting of female writers.[7] L'Association published Persepolis as one of their three "breakthrough political graphic memoirs."[7] Persepolis, tome 1 ends at the outbreak of war; Persepolis, tome 2 ends with Marji boarding a plane for Austria; Persepolis, tome 3 ends with Marji putting on a veil to return to Iran; Persepolis, tome 4 concludes the work.
When the series gained critical acclaim, it was translated into many different languages. In 2003, Pantheon Books published parts 1 and 2 in a single volume English translation (with new cover art) under the title Persepolis which was translated by Blake Ferris and Mattias Ripa, Satrapi's Swedish husband and edited by Anjali Singh; parts 3 and 4 (also with new cover art) followed in 2004 as Persepolis 2, with the translation credited to Anjali Singh. In October 2007, Pantheon repackaged the two English language volumes in a single volume (with film tie-in cover art) under the title The Complete Persepolis. The cover images in the publications from both countries feature Satrapi's own artwork; however, the French publication is much less ornamented than the United States equivalent.[7]
