![Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎124r] (254/1814)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/Mss Eur F111_33_0265.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎124r] (254/1814)")
Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [124r] (254/1814)
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.
&-risi~--.l<t.
$p
'c-y-
C*~JjA*\ r n ■
Cfy-aCtA yfavtfcgiit &a~> *>\ Arj f)
f-'T& om «ur^*..\Aju*A e<*"*AX. ^
FEOM ASHKABAD TO KUCHaV^ ‘^‘^^Tlli
e*^S'l“jLK>J ^L. r ' in *a A * ^ ^
- y y -.. V — ^ 7 /°
± 5 etore 1 leave Kucliaii I may furnish a few details of the
district and government of which it is the capital. Bounded by
Indian the district of Bu j nur(J on the north-west, it extends as
Princi- Badkan on the road to ]\feshed, a total length of
paiity nearly sixty miles, its breadth from north to south being a
little less, and being about equally divided between the mountain
ranges and uplands in which I had been journeying from the
frontier and the Kuchan valley itself, which is fifteen miles in average
width, and stretches without physical interruption to Meshed.
The Shah Jehan mountains, which enclose it on the south, rise
behind the town of Kuchan, which is 3,800 feet above the sea, to
a peak of 10,000 feet. There is no more fertile or better watered
tract in the ^ whole of North Persia than the Kuchan valley.
Under irrigation it gives a hundred-fold return of grain; and its
cereal productiveness entitles it to be termed the granary of
Khorasan. Skobeleff knew very well what he was about when he
despatched Grodekoff to buy forage for his horses and camels from
the Shuja-ed-Dowleh j and the Russians of to-day also know very
well what they are doing in planting themselves within easy reach
and in strategical command of a district which would feed a large
army and dominate the whole of Khorasan. The population of
the principality consists mainly of Zaferanlu Kurds, but contains
also some Geraili Turks and a few Persians. Its total has been
variously estimated at from 90,000 to 200,000 souls, the lower
figure being, it is needless to add, nearer the probable mark. The
income of the
Ilkhani
The paramount chief of certain tribes in south west Iran.
is derived partly from duties on houses and
shops in the towns and on cultivated lands outside, partly from
the revenues of his own private property. Out of it he is required
to defray the charges of his cavalry contingent, who are well
mounted and armed with guns, but whose numbers, which for
merly stood at 1,000, had, I was informed (perhaps in considera
tion of the altered condition on the frontier), been reduced
to 500 .
Supplementary Routes from Kuchan
Kuchan to Meshed (via Jafirabad, Shurcha, Kadkan, Chinaran, Gunabad,
Kasimabad, 93 miles).—J. B. Fraser (1822), Journey into Khorasan, cap. xxii. ;
(Sir) A. Burnes (1832), Travels into Bokhara, vol. iii. pp. 74-5; Captain Hon.
G. Napier (1874), Journal of the vol. xM. pp. 79-87 and 151-3; E.
O’Donovan (1880), The Merv Oasis, vol. i. cap. xxviii.
Kuchan to Sebzewab (69 miles).— E. O’Donovan (1880), The Merv Oasis,
vol. i. p. 437.
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 [124r] (254/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213843.0x00003d> [accessed 30 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