Using the Database
The database contains the text of the 1665 and 1678 editions of the Réflexions ou sentences et maximes morales. The texts have not been checked against original copies and should not be taken as autoritative or even accurate. Cross-references between the two editions are taken from Truchet's 1967 edition of the Maximes.
You can search for terms as well as browse the two editions. The browsing interface includes a theme browser that allows a reader to connect to related maxims.
Ideas for future improvements
· Correct the texts, checking them against the 17th-century editions, and make sure that concordance is accurate.
· Include the other 3 "official" editions published during La Rochefoucauld's lifetime (as well as variants within a "single" edition)
· Include bitmapped images of the 17th-century printed editions, to see what the maxims looked like on the printed page, their spacing and rhythm.
· Include both transcriptions and images of the various manuscripts.
· Create tools for grammatical and rhetorical analysis.
· Create tools for comparing different versions of a same maxim, indicating and mesuring their distance from one another.
· ...