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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [121v] (249/1814)
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.
106
PERSIA
soldiers. We are not sour milk that the Russians shoulrl ,
us down. 1 We have a wall of men ; a wall of m P11 % ^ W
than a wall of stones.’ lb stron ger
While treating this asseveration with becoming result r f
that I was uncharitable enough at this juncture to renLl’ ^
only the mural decorations of the house which I had sn ^
quitted, but a certain passage that occurred in a letter written?
tins same vehement old patriot to the Russian, Grodekoff onC?
years before, m which he had remarked : ‘ There is onlv on. r
on whom were poured out all divine blessings, so that he sh?
come from heaven and create such a people as the RussJ-
Changmg the subject, I inquired what the Khan thought about
m Pe,,„. Though ho hud never seen , ,,ii ^
e, he surprised me by advocating their introduction everyrten
nto the country, and wondered why they were not begun. He
was aware that Queen Victoria had reigned over fifty years and
iad recently celebrated her jubilee. He could not understand the
mggaic y p 0 icy of the Amir of Afghanistan in refusing to allow
s rangers to enter his dominions, and was unwilling to believe that
i was more difficult to penetrate to Herat than to Kuchan. The
nanow range of Ins knowledge, however, transpired when I told
urn that eight days were required to go from London to America
anc re immediately asked if the distance was 80 farsakhs, i.e. 320
in mng fr0m ^ maximum distanc e of a day’s land march
y chai actei istic too, and in strict accordance with the
practice of his family (his father, Reza Kuli Khan, put the same
q s ions to Fiasei, and the
Ilkhani
The paramount chief of certain tribes in south west Iran.
himself had repeated them
venteen years before my visit to Baker), were his interrogations
1 . ^ 1,1 ' ob J ect and motive in travelling. ‘ Why do you come to
lYuchan ? What do you want ? Do the English Government pay
m , :i allusion to the coagulated milk, called mast or ab-i-dvgh, which
uot c, T n dr , lnk with the Persians and Kurds ; and the meaning was, ‘ We are
net such a ample and agreeable draught as some suppose.’
e-poo-rnJh TT-’ whi . ctl is typical of the ignorance on all matters concerning
. V 3 _ lat 18 unive rsal in Persia, reminds me of the story told by Morier
and aci ^ii ®hah, who was very curious about America,
a asked Sir Harford Jones, ‘ What sort of a place is it ? How do you get at
later hph ? y tel ? Un( ^ ^ Similarly, a Persian envoy to London, half a century
horsp -nr> & 0 c t at the steamer which was carrying him had engines of 500
-P ver, exclaimed delightedly, ‘ Oh, show me the stables.’
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 [121v] (249/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213843.0x000038> [accessed 24 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