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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [83v] (173/1814)
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.
34
PERSIA
the tigers along the Caspian littoral are not man-eaters. They
are frequently of immense size ; and I saw the skin of one, killed
near Resht, which a noted Indian shiharri declared was larger
than any that he had seen in that country. The impenetrability
of the jungle and its malarial fevers are presumably the obstacles
that have saved from the clutch of the Englishman one of the few
remaining sporting grounds in the neighbourhood of Europe.
Higher up in the Elburz Mountains is found the big game that is
common to loftier altitudes—ibex, mountain sheep, wild goat,
antelope, and huge bears. Alter twelve miles the road begins to
rise, and soon after leaving Kuhdum enters the hills. In this
section it has at one time been paved with cobbles, but, like most
things in Persia, the causeway has fallen into ruin, and in wet
places is apt to become a treacherous quagmire, whilst on a steeper
acclivity it often resembles a staircase rather than a ramp.
Beyond Kuhdum, the left bank of the Sefid Pud (White River) is
reached, and, through lovely scenery, where woodland is variegated
by open glades and rocks, is followed as far as Rustamabad. At
this stage, and as the elevation increases, vegetation begins to
dwindle ; the forest trees are replaced by olives, and finally by low
bushes and shrubs ; the scenery gains in ruggedness and grandeur,
until at length, a little before the station of MTnjil, the river is
crossed by a seven-arched bridge (not infrequently broken down),
over which the wind sometimes whistles through the narrow gorge
with concentrated fury. Between Menjil and Paichenar the road
skirts hist the fehahrud (King's River) as far as the Eoshan bridge,
and then the Paichenar river, which is a tributary of the Sefid
Rud; and steadily but laboriously, and over heartrending inequali
ties in the ground and beside savage precipices, mounts to the
Kharzan pass, some 7,500 feet above the sea. This is a terrible
spot in winter, being frequently blocked for days by snow; and
many are the camels and mules that have left their bones to bleach
on its cruel heights. Nevertheless, there is a village here and a
large
caravanserai
A roadside inn providing accommodation for caravans (groups of travellers).
. Thence, the apex of the ridge having been
conquered, the descent begins on the other side to Mazreh, one of
tie . ersian villages famous for the visitations of the loathsome bug
(variously called gherib-gez, he. Bite the stranger, or shab-gez, i.e.
g t itei, bettei known to science as Argas Persians), that is one
a n -p u rr ° rS ° f traVeL After P assin S the village of
g a a a, level giound is reached, and the traveller endeavours
proi
large w-
^ and'^ °
Persian * ^
samples lal er011, .
gerted spaces and ciur
teemed ffith busy life
rale. Said to have beei
one of the places that v
the celebrated chief of
from a paraphrase by
el-Jehel, as the Old Mar
of recruiting his band i
whose impregnable strc
only about thirty miles
however, till the rise o\
the zenith of its renown
TahmaspI, (lo24-1576
the change being variou;
that monarch to def
amaetyto remove to
son
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 [83v] (173/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213842.0x0000b4> [accessed 23 June 2026]
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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