![Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎91v] (189/1814)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/Mss Eur F111_33_0200.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎91v] (189/1814)")
Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [91v] (189/1814)
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.
50
PERSIA
(nominally = 450 miles) or 15 days, but which the postman
covered in 10 days. For over forty years, from 1838 to 1881, the
British Consulate at Baghdad, assisted at first by a subsidy f roin
the Indian Government, kept up this mounted post, which was
originally established in connection with the Euphrates Expedition
and Flotilla, 1 but was ultimately killed by the competition of the
Turkish Government, who started a rival post at international
rates. The hardships and lack of real interest, as well as the
occasional danger, by this route are so great that few, if any
adopt it, except such as are resolutely bent upon sacrificing comfort
and risking safety.
Finally, there is the circuitous and comfortable method of reach
ing Baghdad, which consumes much time, but no tissue, proceeding
4 Pe rs i an entirely by water. The steamers of the British India
Gulf route Navigation Company run from Bombay (in correspondence
with the P. & 0. boats from Europe), via Kurrachi and the Persian
Gulf to Busrah, where transhipment is easily effected into the
excellent river-boats of the Euphrates and Tigris Steam Navigation
Company, which in from three to four days, according to the state
of the river, accomplish the ascent of the Tigris to Baghdad. The
only drawback to this route is the length of time, over five weeks,
that is consumed between London and our destination.
Having thus conducted the traveller, by any one of the above
approaches to Baghdad, let me now show him how he will enter
Baghdad Persia from this quarter, and what, he will see by so doing,
to Teheran E r0 m Baghdad to the Persian frontier, five miles beyond
the Turkish station of Khanikin, the distance is ninety miles, the
road running for the most part over a level desert, and the halting-
places being as follows: Beni Saacl or Orta Khan (15 miles),
Yakubieh (14), Shahrabad (26), Kizil Robat (18), Khanikin
(17). There is no postal service; and the traveller, who must
engage his baggage animals at Baghdad, halts in khans (the
Turkish equivalent to caravanserais) and rest-houses. After passing
through the custom-house on the Persian border he finds the
following route extended before him :
The cost of this post from February 1838 to April 1843 was 89,550
rupees
Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf.
.
For the next twenty years the cost was about 8£. a trip, after which time so many
letters were sent that it paid its own way. The halting-places or wells between
Damascus and Baghdad by this route are Idhmair, Aitha, Rumana, Iltinf, Zagb
Igara, Idama, Imhewar, Raj mi Sabun, Aamij, Giseir Khubaz, Kubaisa, and Hit-
The total distam
90 -i- 408 miles, or cl(
and Tehran there i
between Khanikin an
Sarpul, where the ma:
caravan from Baghcla<
This journey.is or
crosses the mighty Zi
fountains, ^ah, the St 1
i-Girra, bet 1
winter, being frequer
Ae traveller is broue
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 [91v] (189/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213842.0x0000c4> [accessed 5 April 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