British Campaign Furniture: Elegance Under Canvas, 1740-1914

"The first axiom for camp is do not make yourself uncomfortable for want of things to which you are accustomed," advised The Complete Indian Housekeeper and Cook in 1890 to high-born Brits living in India, most of which England had by that point colonized through a succession of wars, or military "campaigns," throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. This impeccably curated, insightfully narrated, and richly illustrated volume proves that the homesick subjects of the Raj took such advice deeply to heart. It showcases nearly 200 years of furniture designed expressly to approximate all the refinement of a proper British household inside the canvas tents of ranking officers afar, but also to break down and fold up fast for easy, compact transport (hence campaign furniture's other appellation, "knock-down" furniture). Masterfully put together by independent curator Brawer, previously a researcher in the Indian and Southeast Asian departments of London's venerable Victoria and Albert Museum, this handsome volume succeeds on two levels: it amply highlights the stylistic elegance and technical ingenuity of this kind of furniture--a bureau that becomes a bed when its drawers are removed; a lady's bidet that folds into a leather case; or a dining table seating 20 that fits inside a 10-inch-deep box--while putting it (often quite wryly) in the historical context of an expatriate society that sought to re-create Britain wherever it went and had little or no interest in adapting to or learning about the customs or designs of the people it conquered (and essentially enslaved). Throughout, Brawer includes excerpts from a fascinating array of letters, journals, and other documents of the period, and an excellent pictorial directory of the furniture's craftsmen and manufacturers helps make this impressive tome invaluable for collectors, design historians, Anglophiles, and Merchant-Ivory set designers alike. --Timothy Murphy