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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [103r] (212/1814)
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.
TRAN SC ASM A
73
by the electric light, which was also to be found at Amu Daria,
and with which it was proposed before long, by means of accumu
lators, to light the passenger waggons. A railway train lit by the
electric light and speeding through the sand-deserts of Central
Asia, would add one more to the many startling contrasts in which
this extraordinary region abounds. On the further parts of the
line the stations were now completed, and the temporary structures
which I had noticed in 1888 had been replaced by neat buildings
in brick or stone. A good deal of money had been spent during
the past year in constructing new bridges and culverts to carry off
the unpremeditated but disastrous torrents that sweep down after
sudden rains from the Persian mountains. But, nevertheless,
thirty miles of rail near Kizil Arvat, the ever vulnerable spot, had
again been destroyed during a storm in July; and the danger is
one against which, as in the far more serious case of the Bolan
Railway in Beluchistan, it will always be difficult to guard alto
gether. M. Biel inski, the Polish contractor, who built the big
wooden bridge over the Oxus and the smaller bridges over the
Tejend and Murghab, was a traveller by the same boat as myself,
having received a contract to replace the wooden bridge over the
Tejend by an iron fabric at a cost of 30,000L A similar change
was next contemplated at the same cost over the Murghab at
Merv. It does not appear, however, that either of these changes
has been carried into effect, though a new girder bridge has been
erected across the Zerafshan at Kara Kul. The great wooden
bridge over the Oxus at Charjui (which, it will be remembered,
was a marvel of cheapness, having been constructed in the space of
100 days for 30,000Z.) had again broken down a few months before,
as it must continue to do when any great strain of uncommon
flood or shifting channel is directed against it. But it appears, on
the whole, to be better adapted to the situation than would any
more costly substitute ; whilst, by frequent repairs and, if neces
sary, extensions in order to accommodate the vagabond humours of
the river, it may continue to serve all essential purposes. The
channel, I have since heard, has shifted more than half a mile to the
eastwards, and the bridge has had to be extended to keep it com-
any.
Not much advance had been made in the interim with the
problem of the navigation of the Oxus above Charjui. The two
barges which were built for the carriage either of cargo oi of
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 [103r] (212/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213843.0x000013> [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