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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [164v] (331/1814)
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.
154 PERSIA
of the Persian Gnlf. Their principle of construction is as follows.
A tall square or four-sided tower is built from the roof, and
Wind- is covered at the top, but contains in its sides long
g?iIrd S and vertical slits or apertures, by which the air enters and passes
houses down corresponding partitions in the interior into a room
below, where the inmates live in the hot weather, and where there
is consequently a perpetual current of air. In still hotter places
in the South, these rooms are replaced by serdabs, or underground
chambers. Another very prominent feature of Meshed is the
number of harctoul-hhccnehs^ or guard-houses, scattered throughout
the city and occupied by small detachments of the regular infantry.
They consist, as a rule, of a low verandah with a guard-room behind.
The muskets, which are old muzzle-loading smooth-bores, are usually
standing piled in front. But as a European rides by, a ragged
soldier, in a blue serge tunic and a sheepskin shako, who is pro
bably lounging behind, jumps up, and with a prodigious rattle
seizes one of these weapons and presents arms. It is then put
down again and the guard resumes his seat.
MacGregor in 1875 truly remarked that ‘there is very little
in this city to induce any one to visit it, or stay long if fortune
The sacred ^ as cas l him into it. There is just one building, the
bmidmgs I mani Roza’s tomb, worth seeing; and that one there is
no chance of any European being permitted to see, except at a
risk quite incommensurate with the reward.’ It is indeed most
irritating, as one rides down the Khiaban, suddenly to find the
passage barred by an archway in a wall surrounding the myste
rious parallelogram that contains the holy places, and shutting it
off as inexorably from the Christian’s gaze as Aaron’s cord between
the living and the dead. From the descriptions, however, that have
been left by such Europeans as have entered it, and from the
accounts that have been given by Mohammedans themselves, we can
form a correct idea of what is to be seen within.
Immediately beyond the barrier, above the archway of which is
a European clock, the street continues to run for 100 yards or
i. The more through a crowded bazaar up to the main entrance
Bast
(Per.) A Persian custom allowing an individual to seek asylum at a designated location.
0 f m osques. Here the greatest throng was always
congregated, and the busiest barter seemed to be going on. PH"
grims who reside within the enclosure can purchase there all the
necessaries of life ; while mementoes of their visit are pressed upon
them, in the shape of the local manufactures of the city, of amulets
d
»' 1 “"‘S;-
ground, and con
to any malefacto
writers declaret
name for tie Pa
but this I elsew
it is a safe refu[
of his retreat, h
is to purchase 1
tuary is of coui
in the Cities of
the indignant s
own country ai
for debtors ei
Bridge and Te
tion, haying o
Black Briars,
of the Imam, ■
fiscated by the
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 [164v] (331/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213843.0x00008a> [accessed 7 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