author
A practical early-20th-century textile writer, this author turned real factory and classroom experience into a clear guide to flat machine knitting. His best-known book grew out of teaching work in New York, where he saw the need for a straightforward textbook for the industry.
by H. D. (Horace Davis) Buck
Known as H. D. Buck, Horace Davis Buck wrote Flat Machine Knitting and Fabrics, a 1921 manual focused on the methods, machinery, and fabrics used in flat knitting. The book has remained his most visible work and is still preserved in major public-domain and library collections.
In the preface to that book, Buck explained that when New York City established a textile school in 1919, he was asked to take charge of the knitting class. He said he was already busy in manufacturing, but agreed to teach because the trade needed better instruction and there was no suitable elementary textbook available.
That background helps explain the tone of his writing: practical, direct, and aimed at students and workers who needed usable information rather than theory alone. Even with limited biographical details available today, his surviving work gives a clear picture of someone closely connected to the textile industry and committed to making specialized knowledge easier to learn.