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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [215r] (432/1814)
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.
FROM MESHED TO TEHERAN
249
and, under favourable conditions of climate, at times almost
pleasant. In the last resort, however, more depends upon the
fortune of the traveller than upon any other consideration. If he
can avoid clashing or competing with the Government post, which
has universal priority of claim; if he is lightly equipped himsell
and does not require many animals; above all, if he can get ahead
and keep ahead of any other party of travellers on the same road,
he will fare passably well. If he is unlucky in any or all of these
respects, he will leave Persia muttering deep and unrepeatable
curses against a land of rascals and jades. That this is the more
common experience may perhaps be inferred from the fact that
the main solace of a European’s life in Persia appears to be the
desire to cover a specified distance in quicker time than it has ever
been done before. A furious competition prevails. Where there
is a telegraphic line along the route the wire conveys to anxious
ears the news of the rider’s progress ; and a man is seldom so
happy, or leaves so enduring a reputation, as when he succeeds in
cutting the record.
At this stage let me describe the chapar-Ithaneh) and its meagre,
but peculiar properties. Sometimes in the heart, sometimes on
The the outskirts of a town or village, sometimes planted in
chapar- absolute solitude upon the staring waste, but usually in
the neighbourhood of water, is to be seen a small rect
angular structure, consisting of four blank mud walls surrounding
an interior enclosure, with a stunted square tower rising above the
gateway, and a projecting semicircular tower or bartizan at each
corner. The whole presents the appearance of a miniature mud
fort. And such indeed it is intended to be ; for in a land till
lately desolated by Turkoman forays, and where promiscuous
thieving is indubitably popular, every possession, from a palace
down to an orchard, has to be safeguarded from attack, as though
the country were in a state of open war. Entrance to the chajpar-
Wianeh is gained by a big wooden door in the gateway; and
when this is closed it is unassailable except by ladders. Hiding
into the gateway, one observes a low seat or platform against the
wall on either side, and two doorways leading into dark and dirty
rooms on the ground floor. The gateway conducts into the in
terior court, which is an open space about twenty to twenty-five yards
in length and twelve to fifteen yards in width. In the middle is a
chcibutra, or mud platform, usually occupied by fowls and filth, but
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 [215r] (432/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213844.0x000027> [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