Via the newly returned Grande Rousse (was she in the same province of Hiatus as Renee, I wonder?), a wide-ranging but spotty site on French language resources. Checking their book section under Etymology, I found several items that did not seem to have much if anything to do with the subject and none specifically devoted to it; looking around, they seem to focus pretty much entirely on traditional Académie-style works, ignoring scientific linguistics. But if the former is what you’re interested in, there’s a lot of it. And in the internet-links section, I found a nice little guide to French typographical style (though I wish they were a bit more expansive on the subject of capitalization in titles, which has always confused me).
Addendum. La Rousse has very kindly sent me links to two sites that offer exhaustive explanations of capitalization in titles, which I was quite right to be confused by. The sites are here and here, and I will try to summarize their wisdom:
1. Basic rule: first word cap, others l.c.
On ne badine pas avec l’amour
2. But if the first word is the definite article, both it and the following noun are cap.
Les Mains sales, Les Liaisons dangereuses
3. But if there is an adjective before the noun, both it and the noun are cap.
Le Grand Écart, Le Petit Chaperon rouge
4. BUT (in case the above seems too straightforward) if the title is composed of “noms coordonnés” or if it is (in the more elaborate wording of the second link) “formé sur le procédé de la symétrie – termes en opposition ou en parallèle,” both coordinate nouns are cap.
Le Corbeau et le Renard, La Belle et la Bête, Le Rouge et le Noir, Paul et ses Amis
There will be a test.
This site section
might help you for capitalization in titles (under the title “Capitales”, bien sûr ! 😉
But it’s specifically the titles of books, movies, &c that I’m trying to figure out, and they don’t discuss them there either. *sigh*
You may find some answers in your email today … 😉