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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎206v] (415/1814)

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. .

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Lv\
■ Its tu, YiV^uA /$1&rrrci L.. t
CsUtuXU , w 0 * * * / ,
«<v U 'pv X c f^%drLt*h Z^ cCeA. U^Cia,x fiy'* Ct-Si* Ce
ItZZs . 234 C^:/^ /V^ ( J ' c / P ‘i^^pERSl/^ ^ liA^i,
'tti*(r~tJ^ f\~j /^ti^tS-CL tj TrC£ r ' iCtsU&iA tr IrCL^Ui
ChagHansur (called by Conolly Onnknasoor, and by Terrier Sheikh
Nasoor), situated on the Khash or Khushk End, the eastern con
fluent of the Helmund lagoon.
Before the despatch of the English Commission, the number of
European travellers who had penetrated to Seistan and had left
European any record of their explorations was exceedingly small,
travellers j n ^809 Captains Grant (who was afterwards murdered
by robbers on the road between Baghdad and KermanshaK) and
Christie (who was killed while gallantly fighting with the Persian
army against the Bussians at Aslanduz in 1812) and Lieutenant
(afterwards Sir Henry) Pottinger were deputed by Sir J. Malcolm,
then contemplating his third mission to the Persian Court, to explore
Mekran, Beluckistan, and Seistan. The journal of Captain Grant
was published twenty years later. Christie’s and Pottinger’s travels
into Beluchistan left the reading public the richer by the admir
able book of the elder 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. . 1 Leaving Pottinger at Nushki,
Christie marched northwards through Seistan to Herat; and an
abstract of his journal (which was never separately published) is
incorporated as an appendix m Pottinger’s work . 2 In 1839 a young
English officer, Captain Edward Conolly, accompanied for surveying
purposes by Sergeant Cameron, made a tour through the country,
and added immensely to the existing store of knowledge . 3 He was fol
lowed a few years later by Lieutenant E. Leech, whose less exhaustive
but complementary information was published in the same journal . 4
In 1841 Seistan claimed its first European martyr. Hr. E. Forbes,
all eady well known for successful explorations on the north-western
frontier of Pei sia, marched to Meshed, and from there by Turbat-i-
Haideri, Birjand, and Tabbas to Seistan, where he was murdered by
one Ibrahim Khan, chief of Lash Juwain. A somewhat incoherent
account of the incident was given by his personal attendant, and
appeared in the ‘Journal of the B.G.S.’ for 1844. 5 Thirty years
latei the members of the Boundary Commission, when travelling
m Seistan, came across the very murderer, who was then chief of
1 Travels in Baloochistan and Sinde. By (Sir) H. Pottino-er 1816
2 Appendix, pp. 406-411. &
^ V 1 ! P ubllshed tw o papers in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal—
' . S .Tj 1 1 ec ketch of the Physical Geography of Seistan,’with a map, in
o • , ,. 4 PP* 710-/26 , ^ke second, entitled ‘ Journal kept while Travelling in
Seistan,’ m vol. x. (1841), pp. 319-340.
A Description of the Country of Seisthan, vol. xiii. (1844), pp. 115-121.
° Vol. xiv.
I
I

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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
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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎206v] (415/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213844.0x000016> [accessed 5 April 2025]

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