High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! William Barley (1565?–1614) was an English bookseller and publisher. He completed an apprenticeship as a draper in 1587, but was soon working in the London book trade. As a freeman of the Drapers` Company, he was embroiled in a dispute between it and the Stationers` Company over the rights of drapers to function as publishers and booksellers. He found himself in legal tangles throughout his life.