Letter from Thomas Gold to Mr Malcolm Gerratt, director, J M Dent and Sons Limited, Publishers, Aldine House, 33 Welbeck Street, London W1M 8LX, England Thanks him for his letter. They are naturally very glad to hear of his favourable appraisal and optimistic outlook. They believe that this is a good sign for the future detailed author-publisher relationship. Gold's major paper on the subject has just appeared in the Journal of Petroleum Geology, and Gold expects it to create quite a bit of disturbance. No doubt there will be some harsh criticism mixed in with the favourable comment. There has been a fair amount of publicity already, and all this is bound to be favourable for the book. The conditions he proposes are generally acceptable to them. The question of the US publisher needs a little discussion still. All they know is that Harper and Row have been regarded with favour by colleagues in similar circumstances; but of course there are other publishers who would be equally acceptable. However, they are a little hesitant about an agreement without knowing that a suitable US publisher is lined up for this. 25 January 1979