![Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎85r] (176/1814)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/Mss Eur F111_33_0187.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎85r] (176/1814)")
Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [85r] (176/1814)
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.
WAYS AND MEANS
37
Afghans in 1722 and by the Turks in 1725, and has suffered
severely from earthquakes since. Among the remains of its
ancient grandeur are the Royal Palace, built by Tahmasp and en
larged by Abbas the Great, which is now in ruins, but whose
high gate, called Ali Kapi, like that at Isfahan, remains. I he
Musjid-i-Jama, originally built by Harun-er-Rashid in the eighth
century, also survives; a huge structure with two broken blue-tiled
minarets and vast deserted courts. But the principal mosque is
the Musjid-i-Shah, rebuilt by Agha Mohammed and Path Ali Shah
upon the remains of the original edifice of Tahmasp and Abbas.
Although, however, Kazvin has fallen from its high estate, its posi
tion at the point of junction of the two roads from Resht to Tehe
ran, and from Tabriz to Teheran, and of a third to Kum; 1 * * its
vineyards, which produce a grape of good repute in Persia ; and
its textile manufactures, which are not inconsiderable, render it a
place of some importance ; and side by side with the evidences of
decayed splendour are signs of reviving prosperity and pretentious
appearance. The town has very showy modern gates, and it con
tains by far the finest inn (there is only one other competitor) in
Persia. This building, or mehmctn-hhccneh, is attached to the post-
house, and is situated in a large garden with a wide avenue of
trees. It is a handsome two-storeyed structure with large portico,
belonging to the Governor of Kazvin, whose residence is hard by,
and who c runs the concern. Furnished apartments and good food
are an almost bewildering luxury to the traveller. There is also
at Kazvin a combined station of the Persian and Indo-European
Telegraph Departments, the wires of the latter connecting Teheran
with Tabriz, and the Persians having the management of a line
to Resht.
From the hotel at Kazvin, springless tarantasses and lumbering
four-horsed European vehicles can be procured to transport the
traveller the remaining 100 miles to Teheran; and he
roac^to 6 may well profit by the convenience while he can, for he
Teheran w i\l traverse one of the only two made roads in the
country, and will enjoy a method of locomotion which he cannot
repeat for months. The distance is reckoned as 24 full farsakhs,
or 96 miles, and is divided into six stages of about 16 miles each,
1 This was the road that was traversed by most voyagers in the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries, before Teheran had been made the capital—e.g. by
Strays, Chardin, Le Brun, and others.
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 [85r] (176/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213842.0x0000b7> [accessed 21 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