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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [163v] (329/1814)
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.
152
PERSIA
The main feature of Meshed (next to the holy shrines) which
endears it to the Persian imagination and distinguishes it from other
The Oriental capitals, is the possession of a straight street,
Khiaban nearly one mile and three-quarters in length, which inter
sects the town from north-west to south-east, being interrupted only
in the centre by the imposing quadrilateral of the sacred buildings.
This street is called the Khiaban (i.e. Avenue or Boulevard), and
is regarded by the Oriental as the veritable Champs-Elysees of
urban splendour. Down the centre runs a canal, or, as we should
prefer to call it, a dirty ditch, between brick walls, about twelve
feet across, spanned by frail foot bridges and planks. The kerbing
and facing as well as the bridges are said to have been originally of
stone. This canal appears to unite the uses of a drinking fountain,
a place of bodily ablution and washing of clothes, a depository for
dead animals, and a sewer. On either side of it is planted an
irregular row of chenars, mulberries, elms, and willows, in which
are many gaps, and the majority of which are very decrepit and
forlorn. 1 Then on either side again comes the footway, and then the
ramshackle shops of the bazaar, the total width being about eighty
feet. The Khiaban is filled in the busy parts of the day with so
dense a crowd, that one can only proceed on horseback at a foot’s
pace, even with outriders to clear the way in front. Everyone
seems to be shrieking and shouting at the same time. All classes
and nationaJities and orders of life are mingled : the stately white-
turbaned mullah, the half-caste dervish; the portly merchant, the
tattered and travel-stained pilgrim ; the supercilious seyid in his
turban of green, the cowering Sunni who has ventured into the
stronghold of the enemy; black-browed Afghans and handsome
Uzbegs, wealthy Arabs and wild Bedouins; Indian traders and
Caucasian devotees, Turk, Tartar, Mongol, and Tajik—an epitome
of the parti-coloured, polyglot, many-visaged populations of the
East. Conolly, Ferrier, Vambery, and O’Donovan have left such
graphic descriptions of this living kaleidoscope in the Khiaban
that I will not strive to emulate their achievements. Perhaps the
most novel feature of the boulevard at the time of my visit was a
row of lamp-posts, at distances of fifty yards apart, which had just
been erected by the Governor.
1 One
writer
The lowest of the four classes into which East India Company civil servants were divided. A Writer’s duties originally consisted mostly of copying documents and book-keeping.
says that the Khiaban was originally planted with palms; but
this I see no reason to believe. O’Donovan is strangely mistaken when he esti
mates the width of the street as 200 feet.
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 [163v] (329/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213843.0x000088> [accessed 3 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