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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [115r] (236/1814)
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 ASHKABAD TO KUCHAN
95
preparations of the previous day. 1 I remembered that when
Colonel Baker came to Kuchan in 1873, in the time of the same
Reception Hkhani, he was treated with a similar scant ceremony on
on arrival pig arrival, the reason being that the Khan was sleeping
off the effects of a heavy debauch the night before. As these orgies
were said to be of constant occurrence, it was extremely likely that
the same plea might be forthcoming for the failure to receive me
now. However, I was sufficiently versed in Oriental etiquette to
know that in matters of ceremony a foreigner is taken at his own
estimation, and that any failure to vindicate his titular importance
is ascribed not to modesty but to weakness. 2 Accordingly I
halted outside the walls of the town, which I declined to enter
under such auspices, and sent on my Afghan sergeant and one of
the Turkoman sowars 3 to the house of the Khan, to say that I
had arrived at the hour agreed upon, and was surprised at the
indignity of being compelled to halt in a
caravanserai
A roadside inn providing accommodation for caravans (groups of travellers).
outside the
walls. In about ten minutes there was a clatter of hoofs ; eight
or ten horsemen galloped up ; and a somewhat dilapidated single
brougham, drawn by two grey steeds, on one of which was mounted
a postilion, rumbled up to the door. The leader explained that
the Khan was very much distressed at my legitimate annoyance ;
that he had intended to meet me as arranged, but that the
messenger from Imam Kuli, the old fellow with the skewbald
beard, had named one o’clock as the hour of my arrival. He
begged I would forgive the mistake and accept a house which he
had prepared for me. My wounded dignity having received this
balsam, I mounted the vehicle; my horse was led before; my escort
came behind ; and the Khan’s cavaliers galloped in front, clearing
a way through the streets and bazaars with astonishing rapidity.
Entering the town by a low gateway with earthen towers in
the earthen wall, we jolted along a number of narrow and tortuous
lanes, and at length pulled up at a house which, I was
of the y informed, the Khan had furnished and placed at my
Khan disposal. Three excellent rooms, carpeted and with
whitewashed walls, relieved by shallow niches, looked out on a
1 Istilibal is the name of the mounted escort usually sent out to meet a guest
of distinction; mehinandar, tY&k of the official who, on behalf of the prince or
governor, welcomes the new arrival.
2 A Persian grandee will frequently try to get the better of his guest in this
manner, not so much with the intention of being rude as to magnify his own im
portance. 3 Vide next chapter.
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 [115r] (236/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213843.0x00002b> [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