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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [187v] (377/1814)
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.
196
PERSIA
Very soon after Burnes’ visit, Abbas Mirza, the heir-apparent,
who was then prosecuting the reconquest and thorough subjugation
of Khorasan, appeared upon the scene with his army, took
AbblT 6 bY and destroyed the place, massacred most of its inhabitants,
Mirza and carried away the rest as prisoners to Meshed ; 1 whence
they were subsequently ransomed at a head by their Salor kins
men of Yuletan. Some of them are still to be found at Old Sarakhs j
and a colony exists at Zohrabad on the Persian bank, a good deal
higher up the river. But the clan has in modern times sunk into
comparative insignificance.
Some time later, it is said about the year 1850, the Persians, in
order to secure this frontier post against the merciless ravages of
New the Tekke Turkomans of Merv, built a huge fort, of poly-
Sarakhs gonal shape, and flanked with twenty-four towers, upon
which they mounted a number of decrepit guns, on the left or
western side of the Tejend, at a distance of about half a mile from
die river. M. de Blocqueville—the unhappy French photographer
who accompanied the famous Persian expedition to Merv in 1860,
that was cut to pieces at Koushid Khan Kaleh, and who fell into
the hands of the Turkomans and remained a prisoner in their tents
for a year and a half—passed Sarakhs on his way and described the
newly constructed fort . 2 MacGregor was the next visitor, in 1875 ;
and he both gave an account of the fort and its garrison of 700
infantry, a few cavalry, and eleven more or less serviceable guns;
and published in his book an illustration and plan . 3 Next, in 1882,
M. Lessar, the well-known Russian engineer, at that time employed
1 ‘ After the fall of Cochoon (Kuchan), Abbas Mirza made for Serrakhs, which
he found totally off its guard, and at once invested it. Despising and rejecting
an offer of 150,000 and then of 200,000 tomauns of ransom which was offered by
the inhabitants, he resolved, cost what it might, to root out this nest of man-
stealers. The place was invested, breached, stormed, and taken in little mcie
than a day. The town was given up to plunder, and afterwards reduced to ashes.
Many of its inhabitants were slaughtered, and 3,000 of the remainder were
■carried off prisoners. The booty was enormous—incalculable—perhaps greater
than in any capture of recent times. There were literally whole sacks of gohl,
and piles of rich goods of every sort and kind. It was a true robbers’ den upon
an immense scale : the amount of specie alone has been vaguely estimated at from
300,000Z. to 400,0G0Z., and the greater part of this fell into the hands of the
soldiery.’—J. B. Fraser, A Winter's Journey, &c., vol. ii. p. 29. The above, thong
a no doubt exaggerated version, is interesting as being almost contemporaneous
<1834).
2 Tour clu Monde, April, 1866
3 Journey through Khorasan, vol. ii. pp. 30-33.
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 [187v] (377/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213843.0x0000b8> [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