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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [224v] (451/1814)
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.
264
PERSIA
as little solicitous of the dust of Omar el Khayam as a nineteenth-
century citizen of London might be of that of Matthew Paris or
William of Malmesbury.
JSTishapur possesses a Telegraph station of the Meshed-Teheran
line worked by a Persian staff. It is also the meeting-point of
^ several important roads in addition to the two from
Meshed. On the south a road comes in from Turshiz,
and on the north a track runs via Madan 1 (where are the turquoise
mines) to Kuchan; while in a more westerly direction stretches
the old long-forgotten trade route to the Caspian, which is believed
to have been a link in the great chain of overland connection in
the middle ages between China and India and the European
. continent. It ran from Mshapur to the Arab city of Isferayin in
the plain of the same name, then struck westwards, and passing
through the mountains by the defile known as the Dahaneh-i-
Eurgan, through which the river Gurgan forces its way, descended
the slope to the Caspian. The stages on this route are recorded
in the itineraries of Isidore of Charax, and of El Istakhri, and the
caravanserais built by Shah Abbas the Great are still standing,
though in ruins.
About thirty-six miles in a north-westerly direction from
Nishapur, on the first of the roads above mentioned, are situated the
Turquoise famous turquoise mines of Madan (i.e. mines), which from
their proximity to the better known city have always
been called the mines of Nishapur. Though turquoises are or
have been found elsewhere in Persia, 2 and, it is sometimes said, in
other countries, these may for all practical purposes be regarded
as the only mines in the world that are worked or that repay
working on a large scale, and as the source of 999 out of every
1,000 turquoises that come into the market. The mines, of which
there are an immense number, actually worked, fallen in, or dis
used, are situated in a district some forty square miles in extent,
* Described Colonel Val. Baker (1873), Clouds in the East, pp. 166-171.
/-.n x^ he m tlier . turquoise mme s of which I have heard or read in Persia are
(1) I s ear Turshiz, leased by the Government (1889) for 500
tomans
10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value.
a year, but
not worked; they are mentioned by Bellew. (2) Near Tabbas, mentioned by
i ac regor and Herbert. (3) Near Kerman, mentioned by Marco Polo, Bangles, and
er ert. (4) At Taft, m the district of Yezd, mentioned by Khanikoff, Napier, and
. e CT r ^ ^ aleh Zeri, near Basiran, between Birjand and Neh, mentioned
by Khamkoff. The mines in the Kerman district are several in number: (a>
lose of Pariz at God-i-Ahmer; (/3) near Mashiz ; ( 7 ) near Shehr-i-Babek. But
the stones of all these mines are very pale in colour and of no great value.
O-rj /.lD'
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 [224v] (451/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213844.0x00003a> [accessed 5 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