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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [152v] (307/1814)
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.
158
kalAt-i-nAdiki
lively, and as MacGregor found it in 1875. Colonel Tod states that
the defences which we severally saw were all swept away in a flood,
probably in the year 1905. The illustrations in MacGregor’s
“ Khorasan ” are useful, the more so as he gives the only known
sketch of the Nafta entrance on the north side of the perimeter.
With these preliminary remarks I will pass on to my account of
Kalat-i-Nadiri, which appeared in the Daily Telegraph of August 27,
1885.
The Fortress of Kalat
On the evening of June 29, I made an effort to start from Mashhad
on my journey to Astrabad. My one and only servant, however, by
getting disgustingly intoxicated, effectually defeated all my plans.
Unfortunately for me, his intoxication did not assume the comatose
form until after I had passed through the Naughan, or north gate, of
Mashhad just at sunset when all the gates are closed for the night.
Half an hour later I found myself standing in the dark on an unknown
road, alone with two ponies, two pairs of saddle-bags, and a servant
dead drunk. Shortly afterwards two villagers on their way home
came up. With some persuasion, verbal and pecuniary, I induced
them to take the drunkard with his pony and saddle-bags to their
village, and look after them for the night. I then returned to the
Naughan Gate, found it closed, and then for the first time ascertained
that my mules, which I had sent on ahead, were still, for some
inexplicable reason, within the city. On the roof of an adjacent
dwelling outside the gate I passed a night that, what with mental
irritation, bodily discomfort, and those parasites which infest all low-
class Persian dwellings, proved an utterly sleepless one. At day
break the gate was opened. Having sent one muleteer to find and
bring back my servant, and ordered the others to load up and bring
back my baggage to Mr. Gray’s house, I returned thither myself. A
few hours later I received a note from Mr. Finn, the British Consul,
just returned from a trip with Dr. Weir round by Sarakhs and Kalat,
asking me to wait and march with him to Astrabad. Having seen
him in the evening, I decided to visit Kalat and return thence to
Mashhad. On July 1 I effected a successful start, and by evening
found myself encamped at Biz wan, twenty miles north of the city.
From the village of Andurugh, two or three miles beyond Biz wan,
the Kalat road commences to assume that rough and rugged char
acter which attains its climax in the Dahana-i-Zaupirzan (Old
Woman’s Gorge) and at the Dewa Boini (Camel’s Neck) Kotal. The
latter I trust never to see again. On its south side the narrow track,
after winding for some two miles along the steep face of the Dewa
Boini Bange, arrives at the foot of an almost perpendicular mass of
rock about 100 feet or 150 feet high. Along its face a steep winding
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 [152v] (307/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213843.0x000072> [accessed 5 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
- 151r:157v
- Author
- Yate, Arthur Campbell
- Usage terms
- Public Domain