Peter Altenberg (1859-1919) is considered the prototypical Viennese café writer. Throughout his life, he wrote only short prose sketches in a style that is both elegant and calmly impressionistic, which together create a portrait of Viennese society before World War I. Among his admirers was Karl Kraus, who played a significant role in the publication of this first collection of Altenberg's texts in 1896.