From the back cover:
Although many art students learn figure drawing by copying the work of the masters, most do not get a chance to see what the master really wanted to do. One of the greatest collections by one of the greatest artists, where the artist actually experiments and explains what he is doing, is a manuscript that has been located in Dresden since the eighteenth century-the so-named Dresden Sketchbook of Albrecht Dürer. This work is reproduced, complete, here.
This incredible collection is almost entirely devoted to Dürer's studies of the human figure. He experiments in various styles; all are important either to improve present figure drawings or to add extra special effects. Among the methods which Dürer employs are: constructions based on de Barbari, including a drawing of a woman with front and rear views superimposed; the "anthropometric system" which Dürer learned from da Vinci; Dürer's modifications to make dwarfs and giants; the "exempeda" method known to most as the man inscribed in a circle; the "progressive proportional" method which was derived from Euclid's maxim that the strongest sections of the body should also be the longest; the "stereometric" system of life study based upon the construction bf jointed mannequins; the human figure in motion and how the motion upsets the proportions; a method based on Vitruvius; the "triangle method"; the "circular method"; the head; the hand; the foot; the proportions of a child; and many more. While some are theoretical, many others are life studies that rank among the finest ever done. There are also a few animal studies, geometrical, architectural and perspective studies, and miscellaneous drawings preparatory for other Dürer works.
While this book will excite any art student interested in the human figure, it will also interest the art historian. Besides all the illustrations, this collection also includes translations of all the inscriptions, the Dresden folio numbers, the Bruck edition numbers, a summary of the remarks of previous commentators, complete information on the watermarks, and new commentary prepared especially for this edition by Walter L. Strauss.
Most of the methods which Dürer uses in the sketchbook are not covered in modern books on the human figure. A few have come down, but the variety here demonsrated is not easily obtainable. These are drawings done in preparation for later works or for Dürer's own reference. For the art student, this is a real chance to look over the master's shoulder while he is at work.

Contents:
XI List of Plates
XVII Notes on the Use of the Commentary
Plates and Commentaries
1 I. Studies in Human Proportion
267 II. Studies of Animals
275 III. Geometrical, Architectural, and Perspectives Studies
315 IV. Miscellaneous Studies
345 Bibliography
349 Concordance to Bruck Numbers
353 Watermarks of the Papers Used for the Dresden Sketchbook