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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [602v] (1219/1814)
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.
2 oo PERSIA
caravanserai
A roadside inn providing accommodation for caravans (groups of travellers).
here in 1860 died M. Minutoli, Prussian Minister to
the Court of Teheran. It was also on the stretch of load between
Shiraz and Khan-i-Zinian that in 1871 Corporal Collins, R.E., one
of the original staff of the Telegraph department, while travelling
with his wife and attendants, was attacked by a band of robbeis
and killed, though not before he had accounted for two or three of
the bandits with his own hand. Three of the remainder were
subsequently caught by the Gtovernor, the xedoubtable Hissam-es-
Sultaneh, Perhad Mirza, who was only too glad of an excuse for
his favourite method of punishment. They weie buiied alive in
pillars of mud, which used to be pointed out to the traveller by the
side of the road, and, I dare say, are still visible, although they
were not indicated to me. Crossing an affluent of the river which
flows in here, by a bridge below the
caravanserai
A roadside inn providing accommodation for caravans (groups of travellers).
, I pulled up and
had lunch.
Three miles further on I crossed the main river by an imposing
bridge of several arches, the causeway of which, although less
Dasht-i- tlian twenty years old, is already in ruins. After fol-
Arzen lowing up the valley for another three miles, the track
commences to climb the crest of a ridge on the left, known as the
Sin eh Sefid, or White Breast, and for some miles is involved in
steep and stony slopes, the surrounding hills being now some
what thickly covered with thorns, and wild pear, apple, plum,
and barberry trees, as well as occasional dwarf oaks. At the top
of the pass a ruined tower marks the site of a former Rahdar,
or combined guard and toll house. Here a new view opens
to the south, on to the snug and symmetrical plain of Dasht-i-
Arzen, or Plain of the Millet 1 (which abounds in these parts).
In the wet season the hollow of the plain is filled with a
lake, but, when I saw it, was occupied by a marsh, whose scanty
pools flickered in the gleam of the declining sun. I cannot
give a better illustration of the bewildering vagaries of previous
travellers, than by saying that their estimates of the length of
this plain, which is completely mountain-locked, and therefore
incapable of elasticity, vary from sixteen miles by ten—the
maximum calculation—to a minimum of five miles by two. I
would diffidently venture upon the estimate of seven to eight
1 This is the older and probably more correct form. Later writers call it
Dasht-i-Arjin, or Plain of the Wild Almond.
ii
i
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 [602v] (1219/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213848.0x000014> [accessed 15 March 2025]
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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