Answer, long. Mad dogs and...
Englishmen go out in the noonday sun. Bill came through at the last.
The next time you go to an outdoor wedding thank the British for your folding chair. The type of furniture I was thinking of was British Campaign furniture, made from 1740-1914. Fine furniture made to bring England into the Empire. India, Africa, America and all points British, both land and sea had fold up and “knock down furniture” for the officer corps--actually pretty ritzy stuff. Top quality British makers like Hill & Millard, E. Ross, Day and Son, Thomas Butler, Morgan and Sanders, William Pocock and others made fine bookcases, beds, chairs, fold out couches, tables, clothes presses, dispatch desks, instrument boxes, medicine, personal, and liquor cabinets, that made life in the bush -–I say old chap--appear like home. Campaign furniture was usually made of mahogany (teak and walnut too) with fine INLAID brass hardware on the stress points, bang around points, and hinges. (Some, mostly travel cases had overlapping and hob nailed metal coverings). Most campaign interior furniture had inset locks with flush, “sunken” or droop handles for easy moving. Pieces were stamped with numbers and letters (H3 attached to H3) for easy reassembly, many had secret compartments, and were by design, compact. Various and ingenious clips and pin and hole hardware was made to hold stuff aligned when stacked or apart to prevent collapse when in use, but capable of being removed so the furniture could be disassembled, “folded” and efficiently packed in its own transportation case. Much of the furniture was curvilinear and so well made you would never suspect it was made as break down.
The tie to America was, of course, Shaker utilitarian style and shape. The Chinese nesting chest and Japanese Tansu furniture has visual similarity, but normally with iron hardware applied on top, not inlaid. As to Bauhaus, based on the famous Roorkhee campaign furniture chair, Marcel Breuer designed the internationally known tubular steel and leather Wassily chair. In America, Baker and Henredon made similar looking furniture in the 1960s but while it looked good it was absent important components and did not fold or break down. "Campaign" caught on and soon other companies made copies too but applied thin, cheap hardware, dumped the locks, and completely ignored furniture building technique.
Today few of even the best catalogs and hardware companies carry decent and appropriate hardware. Heavy gauge brass corners, “L” braces, locks and some casters are available but the large diameter brass screw in mates, clips, swivels, pins, and cover plates and even accurate handles are really difficult to find. Because there are so many inlays with angles and points to do this well requires lots of accurate chisel and gouge work for fitting.
Best book source I’ve found for info is British Campaign Furniture by Nicolas Brawer. The price can be steep ($45.00 list), but search around if you have interest. If you aren’t bored to tears by now some neat examples can be found at: http://www.antiques-in-england.com/Default.asp?offset=12. Lots of campaign stuff from cabinets to boot jacks to clothes hooks. Values are listed in pounds sterling.
If any one has a British (foreign)source for legit hardware let me know. I’ve exhausted some twenty plus U.S. hardware companies plus the companies mentioned above (if still around).