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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [217v] (437/1814)
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.
254 PERSIA
yet the passage of countless animals has left such impressions
upon the soil that the direction to be followed can often be
traced in advance for miles. At night a stranger would be lost
at once but for the guidance of the post-boy, whose sight and memory
are unerring.
The best known characteristic of the Persian post-horse is his in
curable predisposition to tumble. Most of them have bare knees in
Its consequence, and the first law in mounting is to select an
humours animal with some hair still adorning that portion. I
could not make out that either a tight rein or a slack rein had
very much to do with the occurrence of this phenomenon, and I
ended by concluding that the Persian post-horse has a certain regu
lation number of falls in the year, which may be distributed either
by accident or as he pleases, but the full tale of which some hidden
law of necessity compels him to complete. The fact that I rode
through the country from the east to the centre and from the
centre to the south without a single fall, tended to confirm rather
than to invalidate my theory, for there was no conceivable reason
why I should be so favoured, except that others would have or had
had to pay the price. It became quite a trite occurrence to hear the
groan with which my Persian servant riding behind me sank or
was hurled on to mother earth ; while the chowar-shagird would be
seriously disappointed at an entire day without a fall. There is-
this to be said for the instability of the Persian post-horse, that it
appears very seldom to be vindicated at the lasting expense of his
rider. The number of accidents or injuries that take place in
proportion to the number of falls is ludicrously small. Two other
tricks I noticed which were widespread and popular. Some of the
meanest of the animals would very much resent being mounted, a
curious proof that their memories had profited by experience • and
the only appioach to an accident that I had was when a horse from
which I had dismounted ran away as I was putting my foot into
the stirrup, and as nearly as possible pitched both himself and me
down the shaft of an open IbCtTici t. The lifting of the right arm, whether
with or without a whip, had, further, such a provocative effect upon
the memory of these beasts that they would frequently swerve and
spin right lound to the left. Ihe Persians, if peciiliarly disgusted
with a post-hoi se, sometimes levenge themselves by docking* his tail,
which incapacitates him from further use in a country where a tail
is considei ed do Tigusm , but this is a spiteful, if not a cruel act.
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 [217v] (437/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213844.0x00002c> [accessed 4 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