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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [167v] (337/1814)
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.
160
PERSIA
was a convert to Islam (a most questionable proceeding on his
part), was allowed to sit for two days in one of the alcoves of the
Sahn’ in order to make a drawing of its interior. 1 Conolly in 1830
visited all the chambers of the mosque but that containing the
tomb itself, and walked daily in the Sahn, where, though recognised,
he was free from insult. 2 Burnes in 1832 , on his return journey
from Bokhara, went into the Sahn, but did not think it prudent to
go beyond, his ‘judgment conquering his curiosity.’ 3 Ferrier in
1845 did exactly the same. 4 Fraser, returning to Meslied in 1834 ,
after the occupation of the city by the army of Abbas Mirza, with
which were several English officers, found ‘ the Sahn open to all
Europeans,’ but in a state of grievous dilapidation that was after
wards repaired. 5 All these were before the date of Eastwick’s
visit. But when we come to Eastwick himself, we are surprised to
find not only that he did not go into the mosque, in the true sense
of the term, at all, but that he did not even go so far as the more
cautious of his predecessors in crossing the Sahn. He was intro
duced by the Hutawnli Bashi, or Chief Guardian of the shiine, b\
a door from the back into one of the recessed alcoves that surround
the Sahn, where he sat and gazed at what was passing below. He
went no further, and he even went there unawares.
Continuing the narrative since his day and down to that of
O’Donovan, we find that in the year following ( 1863 ) Yambery, on
the return from his heroic voyage as a mendicant deivish to
Bokhaia and Samarkand, entered the mosque and visited the tomb
chamber in the character which he had so long and successfully
worn. About the same time Colonel Dolmage, an English officer
in the service of the Shah, 7 who superintended a powder
factory
An East India Company trading post.
near Meshed, penetrated into the interior under the auspices of the
Hissam-es-Sultaneh, then Governor-General of Khorasan. Finally,
when we come to O’Donovan in 1880 , we find that he did not
even enter the Sahn, but claims from a doorway outside to have
1 Journey into Kkorasan, pp. 472, 511.
2 Overland Journey to India, vol. i. p. 288.
3 Travels into Bokhara, vol. iii. p. 70. 4 Caravan Journeys, p. 12 •
5 A Winter's Journey, vol. ii. p. 211.
s Journal of a Diplomate, vol. ii. pp. 224-229.
7 Colonel, originally Doctor, Dolmage was an Englishman who, after se ^ v | 14&
as a veterinary surgeon in the Crimean War, came out to Persia and entered e
service of the Shah. He subsequently died at Teheran. It was his plan of
that appeared in MacGregor’s book, having been purchased by the lattei
for a few krans.
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 [167v] (337/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213843.0x000090> [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