![Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎96v] (199/1814)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/Mss Eur F111_33_0210.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎96v] (199/1814)")
Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [96v] (199/1814)
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.
60
PERSIA
as do nearly all the passenger steamers, at the Turkish ports of
Ineboli, Sinope, Sam sun, and Trebizond, but ply direct to Batuia
which at the easy rate of nine knots can be reached in less than
three days from Constantinople.
I was at Batum for five days about a year before, detained by
one of those tremendous storms for which the Euxine has always
Town and k een f amous ( we remember, though we may be ex
population cused from quoting, Byron’s celebrated, if unsavoury
rhyme upon that sea), 1 but little expected so soon again to
behold its beautiful but unattractive features. In the year’s interval
I found that immense progress had been made by the Russians
in the development and strengthening of the place. It was onlv
eleven years since, by the Treaty of Berlin, they had first gained a
footing in Batum; and only three and a half years since, in violation
of that instrument, they had unceremoniously annexed what had,
till then, been nominally a free port. Batum is now a large and
increasing town, with an estimated population (though accurate
statistics, as is to be expected in Russia, are not forthcoming) of
30,000 peisons, 2 of whom probably one-third are Russians, and
the remainder a motley congeries of Turks, Georgians, Circassians,
Mingrelians, Persians, Armenians, Greeks, Levantines, Jews,
English, Germans, French, Austrians, and, indeed, every nationality
in Europe. The town has that inchoate and adventitious appear
ance which is ordinarily associated with a new American settle
ment in the Far West. . Palatial buildings alternate with hovels,
and broad streets terminate in quagmires and dust-heaps. The
sanitary conditions of the place are abominable, and the bulk of
the . dwelling-houses are flimsily and wretchedly constructed.
During the hot season of the year 50 per cent, of the labouring
popu ation are said to be disabled by sickness, and few residents
for tht W ^TY 8-0 ’ Sir J ° hn Chardin ’ the ^eat traveller, accounted
are- more v^ : .‘ N ° W ^ —n ^ ^ storms
nro ormfranfori • 8 than m other seas is because the waters
beL to be nL ChaDnel ^ haVe 110 0utlet ^ the Bosphorus not
fore, the waters bekg vTleTtlf abated tyT st ^ ^ ^7 Stra, ' ght ' thel ' e ‘
have mom nnri Uoi + *' & hy a stoim, and not knowing where to
and beat aJil nf repelIed the • they mount and rowl aloft
ArL-T,; Je 011 every side with an invincible swiftaess and force
When t0llching at Batum in
looking huts ’ ^ atum contains nothing but some squalid-
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 [96v] (199/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213843.0x000006> [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