diff --git a/src/graph/graph.hh b/src/graph/graph.hh
index b0802ebb191ff5acbe3024a757d1651ed978c73b..07ca3256db3ba698c012729f804746cdcbcabcc0 100644
--- a/src/graph/graph.hh
+++ b/src/graph/graph.hh
@@ -59,7 +59,8 @@ class GraphInterface
 public:
     GraphInterface();
     GraphInterface(const GraphInterface& g, bool keep_ref,
-                   python::object ovprops, python::object oeprops);
+                   python::object ovprops, python::object oeprops,
+                   python::object vorder);
     ~GraphInterface();
 
     // useful enums
diff --git a/src/graph/graph_copy.cc b/src/graph/graph_copy.cc
index 3f91b4cb060de203c3a438dd89553feaf2db5373..deb9a5a2fa0b41ba00a3b63c1ca122bb312f56d6 100644
--- a/src/graph/graph_copy.cc
+++ b/src/graph/graph_copy.cc
@@ -83,12 +83,13 @@ struct do_graph_copy
 {
     template <class GraphTgt, class GraphSrc, class TgtVertexIndexMap,
               class SrcVertexIndexMap,  class TgtEdgeIndexMap,
-              class SrcEdgeIndexMap>
+              class SrcEdgeIndexMap, class OrderMap>
     void operator()(const GraphSrc& src, GraphTgt& tgt,
                     TgtVertexIndexMap src_vertex_index,
                     SrcVertexIndexMap tgt_vertex_index,
                     TgtEdgeIndexMap,
                     SrcEdgeIndexMap tgt_edge_index,
+                    OrderMap vertex_order,
                     vector<pair<reference_wrapper<boost::any>,reference_wrapper<boost::any> > >& vprops,
                     vector<pair<reference_wrapper<boost::any>,reference_wrapper<boost::any> > >& eprops) const
     {
@@ -98,7 +99,8 @@ struct do_graph_copy
         {
             if (src_vertex_index[*v] >= index_map.size())
                 index_map.resize(src_vertex_index[*v]+1);
-            typename graph_traits<GraphTgt>::vertex_descriptor new_v =
+            typename graph_traits<GraphTgt>::vertex_descriptor new_v = get(vertex_order, *v);
+            while (new_v >= num_vertices(tgt))
                 add_vertex(tgt);
             index_map[src_vertex_index[*v]] = tgt_vertex_index[new_v];
 
@@ -126,7 +128,8 @@ struct do_graph_copy
 
 // copy constructor
 GraphInterface::GraphInterface(const GraphInterface& gi, bool keep_ref,
-                               python::object ovprops, python::object oeprops)
+                               python::object ovprops, python::object oeprops,
+                               python::object vorder)
     :_mg(keep_ref ? gi._mg : shared_ptr<multigraph_t>(new multigraph_t())),
      _vertex_index(get(vertex_index, *_mg)),
      _edge_index(get(edge_index_t(), *_mg)),
@@ -159,7 +162,7 @@ GraphInterface::GraphInterface(const GraphInterface& gi, bool keep_ref,
         (const_cast<GraphInterface&>(gi),
          bind<void>(do_graph_copy(), _1, ref(*_mg),
                     gi._vertex_index, _vertex_index,
-                    gi._edge_index, _edge_index, ref(vprops),
-                    ref(eprops)))();
+                    gi._edge_index, _edge_index, _2, ref(vprops),
+                    ref(eprops)), vertex_scalar_properties())(avorder);
     // filters will be copied in python
 }
diff --git a/src/graph_tool/__init__.py b/src/graph_tool/__init__.py
index 5104c526dcec0b43cf35bea86ede06906ec31ebc..a8299237a6893b55c74ebe0488b39c42403d8312 100644
--- a/src/graph_tool/__init__.py
+++ b/src/graph_tool/__init__.py
@@ -1020,6 +1020,10 @@ class Graph(object):
     ``prune``, to specify a different behavior to vertex, edge, and reversal
     filters, respectively.
 
+    If ``vorder`` is specified, it should correspond to a vertex
+    :class:`~graph_tool.PropertyMap` specifying the ordering of the vertices in
+    the copied graph.
+
     The graph is implemented as an `adjacency list`_, where both vertex and edge
     lists are C++ STL vectors.
 
@@ -1027,7 +1031,7 @@ class Graph(object):
 
     """
 
-    def __init__(self, g=None, directed=True, prune=False):
+    def __init__(self, g=None, directed=True, prune=False, vorder=None):
         self.__properties = {}
         self.__known_properties = {}
         self.__filter_state = {"reversed": False,
@@ -1055,6 +1059,11 @@ class Graph(object):
             for k, v in g.edge_properties.items():
                 eprops.append([_prop("e", g, v), libcore.any()])
 
+            # The vertex ordering
+            if vorder is None:
+                vorder = g.new_vertex_property("int")
+                vorder.fa = numpy.arange(g.num_vertices())
+
             # The actual copying of the graph and property maps
             self.__graph = libcore.GraphInterface(g.__graph, False, vprops, eprops)