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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [162r] (326/1814)
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.
MESHED
149
by bringing it up to date. The fixed residence of an official
representative of the Queen in Meshed is alone sufficient to mark
an epoch in its history.
I may dismiss with the briefest notice the rudiments of know
ledge about the holy city. Its name (Mashhad = £ Place of Martyr-
dom or Witness 51 ) and fame are alike due to the fact that
History . . '
m the ninth century A.D. the remains of the pre-eminently
holy Imam Heza, son of Imam Musa, and eighth of the twelve
Imams or Prophets, were here interred. Humour relates, but
apparently without any very certain foundation, that, having incurred
the jealousy of the Khalif Mamun (son of the renowned Harun-er-
Hashid), whose capital was Merv, the saint, then residing at
the city of Tus, fifteen miles from the modern Meshed, was
removed at his orders by a dish of poisoned grapes ; although
another tradition represents the holy father as having comfortably
died in his bed, or whatever was the ninth century equivalent
thereto, at Tus. Whichever be the truth, the body of the departed
prophet was interred in a tower in the neighbouring village of
Sanabad, where also (a curious corollary to the story of the murder)
lay the remains of the Khalif s father, the illustrious Harun. Sanabad
gradually became an object of religious attraction and worship, and
Ibn Batutah, who travelled hither about 1330 a.d., found the
mosque of the Imam in existence, and highly revered. 1 2 In 1404
the courtly Spanish Ambassador, Don Huy Gonzalez di Clavijo,
passing Meshed on his way to the Court of Timur at Samarkand,
left a similar record. 3 Shah Hukh, the youngest son of Timur,
subsequently embellished the mausoleum; while his wife, Gowher
Shad, erected the magnificent mosque which still exists alongside.
1 Mashhad is the locative noun of the root shahad, to witness.
2 He says that ‘ the Meshed of El Reza is a large and well-peopled city,
abounding in fruits. Over the Meshed is a large dome adorned with a covering
of silk and golden candlesticks. Under the dome, and opposite to the tomb of
El Reza, is the grave of the Calif Harun-el-Rashid. Over this they constantly
place candlesticks with lights. But when the followers of Ali enter as pilgrims
they kick the grave of El Rashid, but pour out their benedictions over that of El
Reza.’ It is clear from the above that in the fourteenth century Meshed was as
much a place of Sunni as of Shiah pilgrimage.
3 ‘ Imam Reza lies buried in a great mosque in a large tomb, which is covered
with silver gilt. On account of this tomb the city is crowded with pilgrims, who
come here in great numbers every year. When the pilgrims arrive, they dismount
and kiss the ground, saying that they have reached a holy place’ (HakliAy
Society edition).
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 [162r] (326/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213843.0x000085> [accessed 12 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