Already the bitterness of the author against the publisher has begun. Drayton speaks of the booksellers as “a company of base knaves, whom I scorn and kick at.” Complaint was made concerning a book called A Petite Palace of Petties his Pleasure (1576), that the printer had suppressed the name of the author, and his preface, and had substituted his own name with a preface by himself. Again, the authors complained of the advertising tricks employed to increase the sale of a book. Thus, Ben Jonson addresses his bookseller:—
“‘Thou, that mak’st gaine thy end, and wisely well
Call’st a book good, or bad, as it doth sell,
Use mine so, too: I give thee leave. But crave
For luck’s sake it thus much favours have,
To lie upon thy stall till it be sought;
Not offer’d, as it made suit to be bought:
Nor have my title-leaf on post, or walls,
Or in cleft-sticks, advanced to make calls
For termers or some clerk-like serving-man,