After his time at the Paris Embassy, Vinicius was transferred to Montevideo, with a brief stay in Brazil. The previous year, the historic production of Orfeu da Conceição had been staged at the Municipal Theater. Vinicius was on the eve of starting his series of compositions with Antonio Carlos Jobim, songs that would be the founding milestone of Bossa Nova.
The first edition of this Book of Sonnets featured three drawings and a portrait (of Vinicius), made by Carlos Scliar (who had created the program and one of the Orpheus posters the previous year). It also includes an introductory text by Luiz Santa Cruz. In its second edition, in 1967, the book was published by Sabiá, by Rubem Braga and Fernando Sabino. The new edition had a preface by a friend, Otto Lara Resende, and contained 25 new sonnets, inserted by Vinicius.