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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [314v] (631/1814)
The record is made up of 2 volumes with inserts (898 folios). It was created in 1892-1924. It was written in English, Urdu and German. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
PERSIA
404
Notwithstanding these cases of cruelty and injustice, for which
some palliation may in each case be found, the Shah is admittedly
a man of humane disposition. Since his visits to Europe the
instances of such unlicensed exercise of power have been rare if
they have not altogether ceased to exist. We have only to con
trast his reign with that of his predecessors, to say that on the
whole it has embraced the most bloodless forty years in modern
Persian history. Only a century ago the abominable system prevailed
•of blinding possible aspirants to the throne, of savage mutilations
and life-long captivities, of wanton slaughter and systematic blood
shed. Disgrace was not less sudden than promotion, and death
was a frequent concomitant of disgrace. The old fashion which
made the kings of Persia the executioners of their subjects, the
deed of blood being enacted before their very eyes, has been
abandoned. The bastinado has lost somewhat of its consecrated
ubiquity of infliction. Provincial governors are no longer allowed
the immunity of savage punishments which made the rule of some
of the king’s uncles and great-uncles so dreaded although so super
ficially successful. Under the Sefavi kings, when the ladies of the
royal harem desired an outing in the country, a huruk was ordered,
which meant that every man was to absent himself from the neigh
bourhood of the prescribed route; and we read of poor wretches,
straying by accident on to the road, or caught sleeping in its
vicinity, being hewn to death by the guards or eunuchs. In the
present reign males are expected to turn to the wall when the
royal cortege passes, but the old horrors of the kuruk have dis
appeared. Similarly, a labourer, who, pursuing an underground
kanat found himself in the anderun of the royal palace, was spared
by the Shah, although his life would certainly have been forfeited
in any previous reign. We may attribute this fortunate ameliora
tion of manners both to the character of the sovereign and to the
immense, though perhaps grudgingly acknowledged, influence of
foreign opinion, and of the representatives of foreign Powers at the
Persian Court.
It is no mean criterion of the strength and also of the general
popularity of the Shah, that he is the first Persian monarch who
has ventured to leave his dominions and to journey in
European foreign and infidel lands, not as a conqueror at the head
journeys ^ ^ army, but as a friendly visitor, if not as a volunteer
tourist. During the last three centuries for certain no Persian
About this item
- Content
These two volumes are George Curzon's own personal annotated copies of both volumes of his book Persia and the Persian Question , which was published in 1892. Alongside the volumes are various loose papers relating to Persia [Iran], consisting of the following: received correspondence; newspaper cuttings; publishers' press releases; cuttings from various booksellers' catalogues; various journal and magazine articles; two items of printed official British correspondence; several prints of photographs and sketches; and a few handwritten notes by Curzon.
In most cases these papers, which range in date from 1892 to 1924, relate to the chapters in the book where they were originally inserted, suggesting that they were kept by Curzon with the intention of using them to inform a revised edition of the book.
Of particular note among the small amount of correspondence are two letters received by Curzon in 1914 and 1915 from retired schoolmaster and Islamic scholar Sayyid Mazhar Hasan Musawi of Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India (ff 5-9 and ff 44-53). These letters, which are written in Urdu and are accompanied by English translations, discuss in detail several inaccuracies found in the Urdu version of Persia and the Persian Question .
The various prints of photographs and sketches, which were originally inserted into volume two, are of different locations in the Gulf region. Several of these appear to have been produced in preparation for the publication of the second volume of John Gordon Lorimer's Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , Oman and Central Arabia (i.e. the 'Geographical and Statistical' section) in 1908, as they are identical to the versions found in that volume.
Also of note among the loose papers are an illustrated article from Country Life dated 5 June 1920, entitled 'The People of Persia' (ff 36-37), and a printed family tree of the Shah of Persia [Aḥmad Shah Qājār], produced in preparation of his visit to Britain in 1919 (f 233).
Volume one of Persia and the Persian Question contains a map of Persia, Afghanistan and Beluchistan [Balochistan], which is folded inside the front cover (f 1).
The German language material consists of a publisher's press release for two books authored by German archaeologist Ernst Emil Herzfeld (ff 29-30).
- Extent and format
- 2 volumes with inserts (898 folios)
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: this shelfmark consists of two physical volumes. The foliation sequence commences at the first folio of volume one (1-463), and terminates at the last folio of volume two (ff 464-898); these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. Each volume contains a large number of loose leaves, which have been foliated in the order that they were inserted into the volume; for conservation reasons, these loose folios have been removed from the volume and stored separately. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers of the two volumes.
Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
- Written in
- English, Urdu and German in Latin and Arabic script View the complete information for this record
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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [314v] (631/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213845.0x000026> [accessed 5 December 2024]
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- Reference
- Mss Eur F111/33
- Title
- Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Questionby George Curzon, with Inserted Papers
- Pages
- 54r:135v, 147r:149v, 158r:180v, 183r:221v, 224r:224v, 227r:246v, 248r:257v, 259r:260v, 268r:362v, 364r:364v, 367r:388v, 390r:400v, 402r:416v, 419r:432v, 434r:444v, 448r:462v, 464r:471v, 475r:481v, 483r:513v, 516r:525v, 527r:544v, 546r:563v, 566r:598v, 600r:622v, 624r:656v, 658r:665v, 667r:675v, 678r:684v, 687r:688v, 691r:691v, 693r:693v, 695r:708v, 711r:721v, 724r:726v, 728r:729v, 731r:736v, 742r:742v, 746r:757v, 759r:761v, 763r:763v, 765r:765v, 772r:777v, 780r:789v, 793r:794v, 797r:809v, 811r:821v, 825r:840v, 843r:898v
- Author
- Curzon, George Nathaniel, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston
- Usage terms
- Public Domain