Exceptionally rare, one of two known copies of the Psalmi confessionales, attributed to Francesco Petrarca and printed in Deventer, the Netherlands at the beginning of the 16th century. Not to be confused with Petrarca's Psalmi penitentiales, a translation of 7 penitential psalms. In several manuscripts and print editions, the present text in 9 parts often follow Petrarca's 7 penitential psalms, which led many to attribute the Psalmi confessionales to him as well. M. Vattasso in a study of Petrarca codices and H. Cochin in his 1929 French edition of the penitential psalms both suggest that while the present 9 psalms were written in the style of Petrarca, but that they are not authentic. Cochin also suggests that they could be imitations made in the sphere of influence of the Carthusians and Ludolphus de Saxonia.
The present work starts with an introductory psalm in which the author - while (luckily) still alive - calls upon God's mercy and wishes to confess his sins. Seven psalms follow the introduction - one for each deadly sin: "superbia", "avaricia", "luxuria", "invidia", "gula", "ira", and "accidia" - in which the author analyses his own shortcomings. The main text ends with one last psalm, starting with "Miserias tibi domine decantavi..." and is followed by Rudolf van Langen's Carmen de Septem peccatis capitalibus.
The woodcuts can be attributed to the Dutch Bellaert Master. A set of 9 allegorical woodcuts were used to illustrate the mystical text in the incunable edition of Vander dochtere van Syon ("Of the Daughter of Zion"), printed in Antwerp in 1492 by G. Leeu. Several of these woodcuts were reused at the beginning of the 16th century in the Northern Netherlands and 2 of them can be found in the present work. Our attribution of the publication and printing of this work to Albert Pafraet in Deventer (ca. 1514-1517) we owe to J. Machiels and his 1985 analysis of the Psalmi confessionales.
With contemporary manuscript annotations in the text in brown ink in Latin and on the verso of the title-page the woodcut illustration of the wounded Daughter (of) Zion is partially traced in brown ink. The binding is very slightly dust-soiled, minor foxing to the margins of the leaves and the last page. Overall in very good condition. Machiels, Een Petrarca-druk van Albert Pafraet, in: liber amicorum Leon Voet (1985) pp. 273-283; Stadbibliothek Trier (1 copy); STCN 107511010 (Picarta old record) and USTC 420737 refer to the present copy described by Machiels from a Belgian private collection without seeing it; cf. Pétrarque, Les psaumes pénitentiaux, ed. H. Cochin, Paris, 1929; Vattasso, M., I codici Petrarcheschi della Biblioteca Vaticana, Roma, 1908, Appendice III, Un opuscolo poco conosciuto attribuito al Petrarca, p. 197-206; WorldCat 1143220557 (1 copy 1542 ed.); not in Cornell Petrarch cat.