![Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎96r] (198/1814)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/Mss Eur F111_33_0209.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎96r] (198/1814)")
Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [96r] (198/1814)
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.
FROM LONDON TO ASHKADAD
59
At Pera a Pappy accident revealed to me the fact that my
friend Professor Vambery was lodging in the same hotel, having
mme to the citv at the invitation of the Sultan as the
Professor ^ j ^
Vambery } iea( [ 0 f a Hungarian Commission to inquire into the his
torical and literary treasures stored in the palaces of Stambul.
I enjoyed with him a long and interesting conversation on the
journey that I was about to make, and parts of which he had
undertaken himself nearly thirty years before under conditions far
less agreeable than those which await the modern traveller. Persia
itself has not appreciably moved in the interval, but its neighbours
have ; and the presence of the Cossack sentry where the Turkoman
raided and the Tartar reigned has multiplied tenfold the absorbing
interest of the situation.
It being necessary for me to reach Batum by a certain day in
order to make the desired connection with my steamer at Baku, and
, _ n0 passenger boat being about to leave the Golden Horn
steamers f or that destination, I procured a passage upon a boat
Black Sea flying the English flag and belonging to Messrs. Arm
strong, Mitchell, and Co., of Newcastle, one of that new class of
steamers of which several now plough the waves of the Black Sea,
familiarly known as tank-steamers, and specially constructed for
the transport of petroleum oil from Batum. There is a^ fleet of
about thirty of these vessels, of which most have been built in Eng
land and over twenty are in English hands, and which ply between
Batum and London, Liverpool, Venice, Trieste, Hamburg, Bot-
terdam, Antwerp, and other ports of the Continent. To India,
China, and Japan, with which a large export trade has sudden y
sprung up, the oil is carried, not in tank-steamers, but m cases
ready for distribution throughout the country. The tank-steamer
consists of a series of detached iron tanks, into which the oil is
pumped straight from the reservoirs at Batum, whither it has been
conveyed in tank-cars by the railway from Baku. Certain of these
are old cargo boats converted; but every clay improvements are
being effected in the designs of new vessels, some of which, to hold
4,000 tons, have lately been built, and of which larger types may
be expected in the future. The ‘ Lux,’ in which I was a passenger,
was now empty, but was making her way to Batum to take on
board a new cargo, of which she could accommodate over , o .
These boats, though not constructed for passenger tra c, piesen
this advantage to the traveller in a hurry, that they do not touc 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 [96r] (198/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213843.0x000005> [accessed 5 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