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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [202r] (406/1814)
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.
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THE SEISTAN QUESTION
225
1871^, but is not uniformly observed. Both these last sections of
frontier—viz. the upper and the lower Perso-Beluch borders—will
come under notice in a later chapter dealing with the Eastern
provinces. They are mentioned here only in order to place Seistan
in its proper focus to surrounding conditions.
I have already, in the preceding chapter, spoken of Seistan as
a beluk or sub-division of the Persian province of Kain, ruled by
District of ^ am Khan of Birjand, who deputes an official to
Seistan represent him and to command the garrison at Nasr-
atabad. Here let me describe the circumstances which have led
to its being a Persian possession at all, and which necessitated the
despatch of the Boundary Commission in 1872 ; whilst, in order to
make this part of the narrative clear, some sketch will be required,
both of the province itself and of its earlier history.
The derivation of the name Seistan or Sejestan from Sagastan,
the country of the Sagan, or Sacse, has, says Sir H. Hawlinson,
never been doubted by any
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.
of credit, either Arab
Denvat 1011 ^ p ers i an . i although it is curious that a band of roving
name nomads, as were these Scythians, who descended hither from
the north in the third century A.D., should have bequeathed a per
manent designation to a country which they only occupied for a hun
dred years. Expelled by the Sassan ian monarch Varahran II. (a.d. 275
-292) they have long vanished from history themselves; but in the
name of the district they may claim a monumentum cere jperennius.
At different epochs of history territories of very differing sizes
have been called Seistan, according as the dominion of their rulers
its appli b een extended or curtailed. In its stricter applica-
cation tion, however, the name has always been peculiar to the
great lacustrine basin that receives the confluent waters of the
Helmund and other rivers, whose channels converge at this point
upon a depression in the land’s surface, with very clearly defined
borders, and a length from north to south of nearly 250 miles.
It is certain that in olden days this depression was filled by the
waters of a great lake j and, were all the artificial canals and
irrigation channels, by which the river-contents are now reduced
ancTexhausted, to be destroyed, I imagine that it would very soon
relapse into its primeval condition . 2
1 Some English writers, however, have derived it from saghes, a wood that is
grown locally and is used as fuel by the Persians.
2 F or further information on the Helmund River, vide a Paper by C. R. Mark-
vru. i Q
VOL. I.
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 [202r] (406/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213844.0x00000d> [accessed 5 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