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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [119v] (245/1814)
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.
]04
PERSIA
from the court by a latticed window, the central panels of w hi
were thrown open. Entering a small room in the right-han
corner, I left my goloshes, and was ushered into the central apart
ment of the dais, which contained only two inlaid tables down the
middle, positively laden with coloured glass candelabra, vases and
curios, and an iron bedstead with a mattress in the corner The
glass baubles represent an incomprehensible but very widel
spread taste among the Persians of the upper classes, while the
bedstead was doubtless introduced as a crowning evidence of Sllc
cessfuby assimilated civilisation. In the centre of this audience
chamber at the back was a recessed apartment, where the Khan
was seated at a table, and whence he rose to welcome me. While
he was dictating to the interpreter the customary opening civilities
and during our subsequent interviews, which lasted fully two hours'
I had abundant opportunity to become acquainted with his features
and deportment.
Appear
ance of
Amir
Husein
Khan
in appearance the Shuja is striking, but the reverse of hand
some. There was a photograph of him hanging in the house
where he entertained me, which I subsequently begged
of him, and a reproduction of which adorns the accom
panying page. He was careful to explain that, having been
. taken by a Persian artist, the likeness entirely failed to
no him justice, a criticism which I am bound to endorse, as, though
an ugly, he was m no sense a forbidding-looking man, but wore an
air both of authority and of intelligence. Though over sixty years
o agejns beard and hair were jet black, the result, I imagine, of
f e \ ile ^ ad strongly marked features and a very sallow com-
?. i i 6 WaS diessed d 1 a black cloth coat and trousers, with
diamond buckles, and a diamond-hilted sword, a black sheepskin
my or hat pressed low down on to his ears, 1 white cotton gloves
, S ° C ln £ ,s ’ anc ^ Patent leather shoes. Being very short-sighted,
e wore colossal blue spectacles over his eyes. When speaking,
the na ^ ona ^ headdress of the Persians, was only introduced by
Even y t a , CentUry ag °- Up tm that time ^e turban was universal.
it • bnt tv 1G m nc ^ 0n the liolah, a shawl was sometimes wrapped round
of’the o-rp 'l X a ? nCti ° n limited t0 the King, the Royal Family, and a few
Shah’s Ip ^ ° X ° f State ' U i§ n0W 0nly seen in the Court dress worn at the
whereas nb fh' n n chher hand, the Jcolah itself has changed in shape; for
and slorip 1 16 + egmnmg of the century it was about a foot and a half in height,
heie-ht anrl • ^ ° ? pea ^ a t the top, it is now ordinarily from six to ten inches in
neignt and is level round the top.
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 [119v] (245/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213843.0x000034> [accessed 2 July 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