Café Lehmitz (Signed Pocket Edition) — Anders Petersen, 1985

This signed pocket edition of Café Lehmitz, published in 1985 by Schirmer/Mosel, is Anders Petersen’s own preferred version of his most iconic book. Originally released in 1978, Café Lehmitz launched Petersen’s career and redefined the language of documentary photography. Shot in a working-class bar on the Reeperbahn in Hamburg between 1968 and 1970, the work is a raw, affectionate portrait of a place where rules collapse: sex workers, drunks, lovers, loners — all held in the same intimate frame.

Petersen doesn’t observe from a distance. He drinks, touches, stays the night. The images are grainy, close, messy, full of flash and emotion. There is no moral hierarchy, only physical proximity and shared time. What makes Café Lehmitz endure is its lack of performance — the trust is real, and the camera feels like part of the furniture. It’s a book that changed the terms for later photographers like Nan Goldin or Antoine d’Agata, proving that documentary could be personal, chaotic, and brutally tender. A cornerstone of postwar European photography, still unmatched in its sincerity.

Technical Sheet
Title: Café Lehmitz (Signed Pocket Edition)
Artist / Author: Anders Petersen
Date: 1985 edition (originally 1978)
Edition: Signed
Technique / Printing Method: Offset
Medium / Materials: Softcover
Dimensions (cm): Approx. 12 × 18
Language: German
Pages: Approx. 120
Publisher / Editor: Schirmer/Mosel
Condition: Very good