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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [125v] (257/1814)
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.
114
PERSIA
pull instruments out of their pockets, that no successful exploratio
would ever be undertaken if they were to be forewarned of the
traveller’s intention. I determined, therefore, to take no one into
my counsels, but to announce that I was going to Meshed and
might possibly diverge on the way to hunt in the mountains • rri
secret resolve being to strike across country by whatever route I
could find, 1 and ascertain for myself whether it was possible for a
single individual, unexpected and unannounced, to penetrate into
Kelat.
I had the greatest difficulty in eluding the vigilance of the
Ilkhani
The paramount chief of certain tribes in south west Iran.
, who was not only full of curiosity as to my movements
The bnt also insisted upon my travelling in his brand-new
victoria of Russian victoria as far as Meshed, threatening’ to return
t,Ji0 T1 fc Ti an i i • o ^ ^ til ij
me the silver watch if I would not accept the loan of his
vehicle. It was in vain that I said that I preferred to ride
‘ You will have plenty of riding later on,’ was the reply. Or that
I wanted to stop at the villages en route. 1 So can the carriage,’
was the rejoinder. Finally I compromised by accepting the
victoria, with the intention of sending it back at the end of the
first stage; and concluded by a most ceremonious departure from
Kuchan. The Khan walked with me through the streets, holding
me by the hand, and deposited me in the vehicle, which was of
Moscow build and of the newest and most elegant description (I
fell to wondering from whom the present had come), and to which
were harnessed four grey horses with postilions. With mounted
gholams clearing a way in front and attendants walking by the
side, the victoria, with myself inside it, rolled slowly out of the
town.
Tlie fix st part of my route lay along the highway to Meshed;
as, in ordei to avoid suspicion, I had decided upon pursuing it as
Kuchan to as Rtidkan, on the outskirts of the Shuja’s government,
g and forty miles from his city. The x’oad runs across an
almost dead level, although at about twenty miles from Kuchan it
cxosses the watershed between the Atrek and Keshef Rud drainage.
It was unmetalled, in bad repair, and reflected no credit on the
engineer who had constructed it. My postilions, as a rule,
preferred to drive over the open plain, for the road was frequently
intersected by irrigation trenches of a foot or more in depth, which
I had. no information as to the existence of any such route, the few English
travellers who had previously been to Kelat having gone from Meshed.
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 [125v] (257/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213843.0x000040> [accessed 4 April 2025]
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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