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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [169v] (341/1814)
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.
^0
164
PERSIA
visit to the post of Mutawali Bashi as well. It was the first time
in history that the offices had been
and in proportion as the occurrence detracted froin the ecclesiastica
predominance of the clergy, so did it aggrandrse the temporal
ascendency of the sovereign. Below the Mutawah Basin m de
fending grades of authority and repute, extends a hierarchy ol
inferior^ mutawalis, some of whom are hereditary office-bearers,
while others receive their appointments from the Shah;
or doctors of the law, who expound the canonical jurisprudence, and
occupy positions of great distinction and influence, receiving m some
case fixed allowances from the Shah ; and of mullahs, who preach,
and conduct the services, and live by what they can extract from
the oilsrrims The more eminent mwjtoAecfe are regarded as \ery
holy characters. When they enter the mosque to pray, crowds
gather behind them to participate in their prayers, and hey spend
nmch of their spare time in indiscriminate shouting and weeping.
At the time of my visit Meshed was m one of its chronic spasms
of religious excitement. The anniversaries of the martyrdom bo i
of Hasan and of the holy Imam were being commemoi ate .
Taziehs, or religions plays, were being acted ; the holy places were
crowded to suffocation ; and beaten tomtoms and clamoured invo
cations made the night hideous. Judging from the noise that he
made there must have been some particularly holy peisonag 8
near my quarters in the British Consulate; and freely did
anathematise this insufferable saint, as I lay awake at night listen-
ingto his long-drawn lamentations and plaintive how s.
From gate to gate of the
Bast
(Per.) A Persian custom allowing an individual to seek asylum at a designated location.
on either side, the parallelogram
thus enclosed must be at least a square quarter of a mile. m
western gate is used as a nakkara-khane h or a
“a- tower; and from here, as in other Persian ^ats of mp
rilateral residence, is sounded at sunset a discordant tan <
of cymbals, drums, and horns. ,
Perhaps the most extraordinary feature of Meshed i e,
I leave the subject of the shrine and the pilgrims, is t e P r ° .
p ... that is made for the material solace of the lat er
tion ' U ' their stay in the city. In recognition of the long jm
which they have made, of the hardships which they have sus a ^
and of the distances by which they are severed y om / gtica i
home, they are permitted, with the connivance of the ecc^ ^
a contr
a fee is 1
sandi 011
parties,
tie lapse of a
riod. the cob
^ ' lar
to his own
after an enforce
career of p eK
system of pros'
Meshed. The:
should he son;
traverse seas s
not also encon
of an agreeabl
vernacular as
Here, in t
ally laid the 1
Tomb of
Nadir
Shah
the
The brutal
source to i
gratified h
structures
& t bis ord(
other rival
s o that wl
tlle great
^esecratee
bter Burt
lla( l shelte
There
Meshed, a
A
i
99 W‘w 0rte
r : ai *ive, ;“ e °
of,ierc »»t r > e *'
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 [169v] (341/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213843.0x000094> [accessed 4 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