Novocastrian

The OH is busy putting hundreds of french language books on to bookshelves in alphabetical order of surname. Question: does e.g. Jean d'Ormesson start with a d or an O for library purposes?

dmu

OH isn't as organised as your OH and had to think hard about that. We came to the conclusion that the pertinent letter is O, if only because, in a French lending library or bookshop, there would be thousands of books starting with de, de la, des, d', du... intermingling alphatically with the other "common" D surnames.
But we may be wrong!

Novocastrian

Sounds right to me (us). Thanks.

Tweedpipe

I've just come from the library (where I usually spend several hrs/month) and confirm that DMU's answer was right on the mark. Should be filed under 'O'.
Your choice of book particularly interests me as I'm a very keen follower of Jean d'Ormesson, and never miss the opportunity to listen to him whenever he appears on a talk show or other interviews. A fascinating character!

Novocastrian

Hmm. We have seven of his works:

Et toi mon coeur pourquoi bats-tu
Une fete en larmes
Voyez comme on danse
Casimir mene la grande vie
La gloire de lEmpire
C'etait bien
and Au plaisir de Dieu.

sdale100

You may be interested to know that Jean de La Fontaine is cllassified under "L"

La Fontaine, Jean de

Novocastrian

Thank you. I have scoured the bookshelves and Jean de La Fontaine is unrepresented.

(It's the wife who has OCD, not me).