First circulated in manuscript in the 1590s, Shakespeare's sonnets-perhaps the greatest poems in the English language-were not published in book form until 1609. But their publication met with almost total silence; there was no second edition; and the book went underground for over a hundred years. In this provocative account of "one of the most famous and mysterious books in the history of publishing," Robert Giroux, a distinguished publisher himself, offers some fascinating answers to questions that have perplexed readers ever since the initial appearance of the book known as "Q.