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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [213v] (429/1814)
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.
246
PERSIA
distance I accomplished in the comfortable time of nine days,
doing an average of sixty miles a day, but in reality combining
days of seventy miles with shorter spans. This is slow rather
than speedy travelling for Persia; 1 and I afterwards became easily
habituated to journeys of seventy-five to eighty miles in the day.
Telegraph officials and residents in the country seldom do less, and
frequently more. The post which goes through from Meshed to
Teheran without stopping, but with first claim upon the horses at
each station, covers the distance in from five to six days. Dr.
Wills reports having ridden from Isfahan to Teheran, about 280
miles, in thirty-nine and a half hours ; 2 whilst officers travelling
by day alone and resting at night have accomplished 120 miles
between dawn and leaving the saddle.
Quick riding is indeed an accomplishment for which the Persians
have always been famous, and notable records in which have been
Speed of achieved even by their kings. Abbas the Great, 300 years
locomo- ago, rode from Shiraz to Yezd in twenty-eight and a half
tion . ^ o
hours, the Astronomer Royal being commanded to take the
time. Malcolm gives the distance as eighty-nine/ursuMs, or 303
miles ; 3 but, though modern measurements have reduced it to 220
miles, it was still no mean performance. Agha Mohammed Khan,
the founder of the reigning dynasty, fleeing to Mazanderan on the
death of Kerim Khan Zend, rode from Shiraz to Isfahan—a
distance, by whatever route, of not much under 300 miles—in less
than three days. Path Ali Shah, his nephew, upon succeeding to
the throne, rode from Shiraz to Teheran, a distance of at least 550
miles, in six days. Fraser mentions the case of a Persian, Agha
Bahram, who kept the best horses in the country, and who once on
the same Arab horse rode from Shiraz to Teheran in six days, rested
tlnee days, rode back in five days, rested nine days, and performed
the journey a third time in seven days . 4 But the most remarkable,
because the most sustained performance of which I have ever read
was that of the dragoman who, in 18f)4, rode from Constantinople
And yet I find a French officer (IVotes do Voyage d'un Hussard, par le Comte
de Sabran, p. 225) who, having accomplished the journey in the same leisurely
^ me writes a book to say that General Maclean expressed himself as
stupefied with his astonishing performance, and told him that an English officer,
w 10 la one the journey in ten days, had fallen seriously ill in consequence ! Sir
11 . Kawhnson once rode it in six.
; P VT T f V P ' 296 ' 8 Hist °ry “f Persia, vol. i. p. 345.
A Winter s Journey, vol. ii. p. 319 .
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 [213v] (429/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213844.0x000024> [accessed 11 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