December 17, 1954

Mr. W. H. Freeman
549 Market Street
San Francisco 5, Calif.

Dear Bill:

Thank you far your letter of the Sth. I hope that Dr. Cavalli found occasion
to met you while he was at Berkeley last week, as I suggested he do, but I
heard elsewhere that he had a flu attack that cramped his schedule.

I hope I don't wear your patience by my questions. As you ost have guessed,
you were the firat publisher I thought of for thia book, and I would look for-
ward to working with you on it. But I am in the dilemma now of having firm
offers from at least four houses, and want to find what tangible justification
I can for accepting ons as against the other three. I hope it will hot occur
to you to simply my problem by withdrawing your interest. I aiao have to con-
sider that I am acting not only for myself but also as Luca's agea&t I don't
think I can put off the decision too long, in view of the competing interests.

Ordinarily, I would not presume to inquire about the publisher's business:
the contract give him the widest latitude in styling, price, promotion, etc.
But the present situation seems to introduce an element of choice whether I
like it or not; by choosing one publisher versus another, the outcome of the
book will be directly influenced. 30, it would help me greatly if I had some
notion of your concept of this book. I don't mean to press you for many details,
but you had implied yourself that you had some innovations in mind. The Al terna-
tives now pending would be 1) a “atandard" volume by our own University Press,
or ons of the large commercial houses, 2) a listing in the Methuen series, on
biological subjects (compare Albert's, Selective Toxicity).

Unfortunately, I will not be at the Bederation meetings in the Spring, and
will have to miss that chance to see you personally, Without writing a book
yourself, you can tell me what I want to know in terms of the following questions:

1) Do you contemplate any radical departure in format or binding? [The Methuen,
for example, has successfully economized with a pocket—sized page].

2) Can this be gotten out for $3 retail? Or less? [Assume under 5x32 pages, _
no extracedinary costs |
3) W411 this be part of a series of monographs? Would 1t be named as a series?

Anything you tell me will be treated confidentially, as indicated, and of
course I am not asking for a binding commitment, but your current thinking on
the matter.

Yours sincerely,