With 60,000 copies of Lawrence and the Arabs selling within six weeks, Graves was finally solvent.
In 1927, he and Laura Riding bought a barge, which they dubbed Avoca, and a Crown Albion 1872 printing press. The imprint became ‘Seizin Press’ (seizing an archaic word for possession).
While based at 35a St Peter’s Square, Hammersmith, London, Graves spent much of the year learning how to print. Riding’s Love as Love, Death as Death (a signed edition is on display) was the first book off the press. Works by Gertrude Stein and Graves followed.