We present continuum observations of the Perseus B1-E region from the Herschel Gould Belt Survey .
These Herschel data reveal a loose grouping of substructures at 160 - 500 \mu m not seen in previous submillimetre observations .
We measure temperature and column density from these data and select the nine densest and coolest substructures for follow-up spectral line observations with the Green Bank Telescope .
We find that the B1-E clump has a mass of \sim 100 M _ { \odot } Â and appears to be gravitationally bound .
Furthermore , of the nine substructures examined here , one substructure ( B1-E2 ) appears to be itself bound .
The substructures are typically less than a Jeans length from their nearest neighbour and thus , may interact on a timescale of \sim 1 Myr .
We propose that B1-E may be forming a first generation of dense cores , which could provide important constraints on the initial conditions of prestellar core formation .
Our results suggest that B1-E may be influenced by a strong , localized magnetic field , but further observations are still required .