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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [205v] (413/1814)
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.
PERSIA.
232
the region between the Naizar on the north and the main lateral
canal taken from the Helmund, in order to irrigate Sekuha and
Partition neighbouring villages on the south, and extending
of Seistan f rom the old and true bed of the Helmund on the east,
to the fringe of the Hamun and the Kuh-i-Khwajah on the west.
This area he estimated at 950 square miles, and its population at
45,000, 20,000 of whom were Seistanis , 1 15,000 Persian-speaking
settlers, and 10,000 Beluchi nomads. Outer Seistan was the
country on the right bank of the Helmund from its lake-mouth on
the north to Rudbar on its upper waters on the south. His
decision may be summarised thus. He gave Seistan Proper to
Persia, and Outer Seistan to Afghanistan. The boundary between
the two was drawn as follows : From the Siah Kuh (Black Moun
tain), which is the eastern boundary of the Persian district of
Nehbandan, along the southern fringe of the Naizar to the left
bank of the Helmund; thence up the river to a point about a mile
above the great bund or dam at Kohak ; 2 after which it consists of
a line drawn from this point in a south-westerly direction to the
range Kuh-Malek-i-Siah, which is the northerly continuation of a
line of mountains that bound the Zirreh desert upon the west.
Here the district of Seistan terminated, and the award was con
cluded. South of this point is the indeterminate and unobserved
line to Talk which I have previously mentioned.
Hampered as he was by instructions almost incapable of
execution, impeded by systematic obstruction, and owing a definite
Indepen- i ssue only to the foresight which induced him to complete
his local surveys before the Indian members of the
mission appeared upon the scene, General Goldsmid may
be congratulated upon having been able to formulate a decision
at all. To the independent observer it undoubtedly appears
that the Persians were the gainers by his award; for they
dent
opinion
Meshed by Seistan/ published in the Journal of the R.G.S., vol. xliii. pp. 65-83
(1873).
1 Sir H. Rawlinson says : ‘ The true Seistanis are Persians of the purest Arian
type. In fact, the only true representatives of the old Arian race to be found in
Persia are the Seistanis and the Janishidis of Herat; the language, physical
appearance, and general characteristics of the Persians of the Achasinenian period
being better preserved in this outlying corner of the Empire than in any other
locality.’
2 This dam, known indifferently as the Amir’s, the Seistan, and the Kohak
Bund, is a great dyke built across the river with tamarisk branches, stakes, and
rammed clay, in order to divert its principal volume into the Sekuha Canal.
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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 [205v] (413/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213844.0x000014> [accessed 2 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