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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [128v] (263/1814)
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.
4 ? (/ { h , s ~t u
fcyt iuv j, /c
PERSIA
at Aslikabad, and of whom it was impossible to sa^r whether 1
was more willing or more stolid.
I will give my diary for the ensuing week according to each
day’s march, as the information may conceivably be useful to '
later traveller following the same line.
October 15 .—Starting at 7 A.M., we reached Radkan (seven
miles), a largish village of 400 to 500 houses and superb
Tower of orchards, inhabited by Kaiwanlu Ivurds, at 8 . 30 . Away
Radkan to the rig bt I could discern Saidan (or Saidabad), a
village on the road to Meshed; and the curious tower, or Mil-i-
Radkan, one of those lofty circular structures, evidently dating
from the times that succeeded the Arab conquest of Persia but
whose exact purpose has never clearly been ascertained. Its ex
terior consists of fluted brick columns, round the summit of which
beneath the conical roof, ran a gigantic Kufic inscription in blue
tiles. The interior originally contained three storeys, which have
fallen in and disappeared. O’Donovan, who carefully examined
the stiuctuie, 1 says it could neither have been a dwelling nor a
tomb. Why not the latter he does not state; and good authorities
have regarded it as the mausoleum of one of the Tartar rulers of
Khoiasan, although the theory that it was designed as a watch-
tower is also worthy of consideration. Colonel Stewart conjectures
that it was intended for a hunting-tower. 2 It is a curious fact
that a somewhat similar tower is to be seen near another village,
also beaiing the name of Radkan, on the road between Astrabad
and Cez; from which we may infer that the name, which is neither
modern Peisian noi Turkish, contains some reference to the object
of the building.
1 The Merv Oasis, vol. ii. pp. 22-24.
2 Proceed ' in gs of the IhG.S, (New Series), vol. iii. (1881). Colonel Stewart
tu^° ^ ac ^k an ‘ A splendid breed of camels is met with in this district,
Ihe Khorasan camel is celebrated for its size and strength. It has very long hair,
and bears cold and exposure far better than the ordinary Arab or Persian camel.
The best animals are a cross between the Bactrian, or two-humped, and the Arab,
oi one-humped, camel. The first cross is by far the best. The load of an ordinary
ersian camel is generally 320 lbs., of an Indian camel 400 lbs., but one of the
orasan breed wall carry 600 and even 700 lbs.’ It is worth while in this context
to repeat the correction of the never sufficiently corrected error that the camel
is an animal with one hump and the dromedary with two. A dromedary is merely,
as the Greek deiivation of the name implies, a fleet riding-camel, irrespective of
ump. I think it was Palgrave who said that it stands in the same ratio to other
camels as a Rotten Row hack does to a country nag.
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 [128v] (263/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213843.0x000046> [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