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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [99r] (204/1814)
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 ASHKABAD
65
as surpassing all European tunnels in the dimensions of its profile.
The St. Gothard Tunnel has a section of only sixty square metres,
but that of the Suram Tunnel is ninety metres. Perhaps it is the
expense thus incurred that accounts for the heavy charge for
passenger traffic from Batum to Baku. A first-class ticket costs
471 roubles, for a distance of 560 miles—that is, at the rate of
over 2d. a mile. The locomotives between Batum and Baku are
entirely propelled by residual naphtha, or astathi, as it is called,
driven in the form of a fine spray into the furnace. Over the
Suram mountain a double Fairlie engine pulls in front, while a
second pushes and puffs behind. I found that the time consumed
in getting to Baku was three hours longer than formerly. Upon
inquiring the reason, I was told that the railway used to belong to a
company, but has since been purchased by the State. To those who
know the ways of the Russian Government this was quite enough.
Tiflis is too well known to travellers to deserve mention.
Those only who are unacquainted with the East are likely to go
into ecstasies over its modest, though perhaps singular
attractions, among which Orientalism plays every year a
less and less distinguished part. The town was in some excite
ment over an agricultural and industrial exhibition, the first evei
held in the Caucasus, which had just been opened in a series of
wooden pavilions on an open space outside the town. Here weie
collected specimens of the agriculture, horticulture, viticulture,
pisciculture, and arboriculture, as well as of the textile fabrics and
manufacturing industries of the Caucasus, together with objects
from Central Asia and Transcaspia. The local manufactures,
whether in metals or textiles, were varied and interesting, but the
general level of the exhibition did not rise above that of an
agricultural show in an English county town; and the grounds
appeared to be visited quite as much for the sake of the bands and
refreshment booths as for more business-like objects.
The Hotel de Londres at Tiflis is perhaps the most wonderful
rendezvous of varied personalities that is to be found in the East.
Hotel de Situated on the dividing line between Europe and Asia,
Londres an( j on Die high road to the remote Orient, almost every
pilgrim to or from those fascinating regions halts for a while
within its hospitable walls. Here the outgoing traveller takes his
last taste of civilisation before he plunges into the unknown.
Here, too, the returning wanderer enjoys, very likely foi the first
F
VOL. 1 .
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 [99r] (204/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213843.0x00000b> [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