William Barley
[2] The assessments of him range from "a man of energy, determination, and ambition",[3] to "somewhat remarkable",[4] to "surely to some extent a rather nefarious figure".
Barley became the assignee of Thomas Morley, who as well as being a composer held a printing patent (a monopoly of music publishing).
He published Anthony Holborne's Pavans, Galliards, Almains (1599), the first work of music for instruments rather than voices to be printed in England.
By 1592, Barley had opened his own shop in the parish of St Peter upon Cornhill, whose register recorded his marriage to a Mary Harper on 15 June 1603 and christenings and burials of people associated with his family.
Barley most likely relied on his assistant, William Davis, to run the Oxford shop while he maintained the business at St Peter upon Cornhill.
He partnered with notable printers and publishers during this period, including Thomas Creede, Abel Jeffes, and John Danter.
[14] With Creede, Barley was involved in the publication of A Looking Glass for London and England (1594) and The True Tragedy of Richard III (1594).
Whether Barley merely acted as a bookseller for the enterers or, in private agreements with them, actually retained the rights to some of the works remains unclear.
Three years later, the organisation sued him and a fellow draper, Simon Stafford, for allegedly publishing privileged books.
A raid on Barley's former premises found 4,000 copies of the Accidence, a Latin grammar book protected by monopoly.
[18] Gerald D. Johnson believes that his partnership with Thomas Morley, who held a royal patent on music publishing, allowed him to circumvent any legal obstacles.
Despite the monopoly, Tallis and Byrd were not successful in their printing endeavours; their 1575 collection of Latin motets called Cantiones quae ab argumento sacrae vocantur failed to sell and was a financial disaster.
[22] The monopoly expired in 1596, prompting prospective music publishers such as Barley to take advantage of the resulting power vacuum.
Dowland disowned A New Booke of Tabliture, calling his lute lessons "falce and unperfect",[23] while Holborne complained of "corrupt coppies" of his work being presented by a "meere stranger".
[23] Morley criticised The Pathway to Music, stating that the author should be "ashamed of his labour",[23] and that "[v]ix est in toto pagina sana libro" ("there is scarcely a page that makes sense in the whole book").
[2] Another work, Madrigalls to Fovre Voyces (Madrigals for Four Voices), printed in little Saint Hellens by William Barley, the Assignee of Thomas Morley, in London, (1599) and dedicated to the Right Worshipful, Ralph Assheton, Esq., included 17 original four voice madrigals composed by John Bennet.
Unable to rely on the protections and privileges of Morley's monopoly, Barley most likely came under increasing pressure from the Stationers' Company.
His financial circumstances also deteriorated after he was the target of a successful lawsuit by a cook named George Goodale, who was seeking payment of a debt of 80 pounds.
That same day, the Company's court, which had the authority to resolve disputes between members, negotiated a settlement in a lawsuit Barley had brought against East concerning the copyrights on certain music books.
[32] Despite the settlement recognising his claim to Morley's music patent, Barley seemingly found it difficult to enforce his rights, even with his new role as a stationer.
After receiving charitable remuneration from the Stationers' Company, Barley moved, first to the parish of St Katherine Cree, and later to a house on Bishopsgate.
