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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [118v] (243/1814)
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.
/**</"' " ****** /Um ^' /t^Ur^Jl,
A /' io2 , ‘ / - / , Persia
A,
md lias/ lx
c? ^/' i02 ^
|S /Cou /■ A.-t-'t
English readers and has/been commemorated by English w a
During the past twenty years he has been visited and intern
His repu- by several Englishmen: by Colonel Valentine Bake ^
tation 1873, Captain Napier in 1874, Sir C. MacGregor in
1875, and Edmund O’Donovan in 1880 ; 1 and by most of the 111
authorities was found either drinking or drunk, or slowly recoverinl
from the effects of drink, Kuchan being noted for its white w i n( 5
and the Khan having a partiality besides for brandy, arrack, and
any spirit that is sufficiently potent. General Grodekoff, who was
despatched to Khorasan in disguise in 1880 by General Skobeleff
with the knowledge of the Shah, in order to purchase supplies for
the Kussian army then operating against the Tekke Turkomans in
Transcaspia, was well aware beforehand of the propensities of the
Kurdish chieftain, and in his official account of the mission en
trusted to him very candidly avows the steps by which he sought
to ingratiate himself with his too convivial host:
Knowing that he was fond of liquor, we placed several bottles of
wdne, liqueurs, and vodka before him ; and in a very short time the
Shuja had drunk several glasses of different wines, and then called in
his singers and musicians. The men who came with him, his surgeon
and his favourites, Mali Khan and Ramzan Khan, drank themselves
stupid, and a regular orgy began. Next day I went to see the Amir,
and presented my documents to him. Bottles were already standing
efore him, and he explained that he was recovering from his intoxi
cation. During our conversation he repeatedly partook of brandy,
opium, hashish, and wine, and by noon was quite drunk. In the
evening of the same day he invited us to a European supper, and
again got intoxicated to the last degree.’
In the. negotiations that followed, General Grodekoff was alter
nately impiessed by the astuteness of the
Ilkhani
The paramount chief of certain tribes in south west Iran.
and disgusted by
his habits. Once his editor writes :
A three clays’ sojourn in his society showed Colonel Grodekoff that the
mil was v eiy much in possession of all his faculties ; that he was not to
e c eceived by oui giving ourselves out as commission agents; and that,
a t ough he v as a drunkard, still he saw and remembered everything.
aut 10rities on Kuchan are J. B. Fraser (1822), Journey into Khorasan,
cap. 5X11 and Appendix B; (Sir) A. Burnes (1832), Travels into Bokhara, vol.
w' PP 8 ’ Colonel Val - B aker (1873), Clouds in the East, pp. 277-278; Captain
x -|° n ’ ’ t 0874), ‘ Diary of a Tour in Khorasan,’ Journal of the vol.
n Q V \ P ' ' lr ^ C ' Mac ^ re g' or (1875), Journey through Khorasan, vol. ii. pp. 83-
n ssm 1 ” (1880) ’ 1116 Merv 0a8is ' vol « i- cap. xxviii.; General Grodekoff
( 80), The War in Turkomania (Russian), vol. iv. cap. xvii.
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 [118v] (243/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213843.0x000032> [accessed 4 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