Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [242r] (486/1814)
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
291
Outside the bazaar is an open space in which there are some vener
able chenars, and one magnificent veteran is enclosed in the bazaar
itself, and protrudes his stupendous bole through the roof. The
old minaret is also encountered in the middle of the bazaar,
attached to the Musjid-i-Jama, which is in ruins. The tower
is one hundred feet high and contains a hundred steps leading to
the summit, which is fitted with a prayer-gallery. Earthquakes
and age have caused it to slant. Hath Ali Shah’s mosque, a little
distance away, contains a spacious quadrangle, fifty yards square,
and two fine ahvans, or recessed arches, set in tile-enamelled frames.
Attached to it is a madresseh, or religious college. As for the tea
cakes, when Yambery asked in vain for them, having heard of
their fame as far away as in Herat, he received the truly Persian
reply that, so great was the demand for these articles, and so
enormous the export, that none were left for local consumption. I
did not see the beautiful women anymore than Vambery found the
teacakes. Upon the speech I am not qualified to pronounce ; but
so learned a philologist as Ivhanikoff, having made fruitless efforts
to ascertain something by queries, came to no more definite con
clusion than that it was a Mazanderan dialect, enriched by more
vowels ; whilst a legend relates that a savant who was once em
ployed by a Persian monarch to report upon the languages spoken
by his subjects illustrated that of Semnan by shaking some stones
in an empty gourd before his royal patron. 1 Semnan is reported
to contain 4,000 houses and 16,000 inhabitants—a probably al
together extravagant estimate. Jews are prohibited from residing
here ; but there are some twenty-five Hindu Buniahs engaged in
trade, Semnan being the point where a route from Bunder Abbas,
via Yezd and Tabbas, comes in from the south and supplies the
northern provinces. A mud wall of the usual character, with
flanking towers and gateways, and in the usual state of dilapida
tion, surrounds the town; and the Governor lives in a fortified ark
(or citadel) projecting from the city wall on the north-west.
A long stony ascent leads us to one of the few interesting spots
on the load between Heshed and Teheran. This is the remarkable
man-i oost for I can call it by no more appropriate name—of
Lasgird. Here there has once been a citadel, built upon a lofty
Vide ‘ Grammatical Note on the Simnuni Dialect,’ by Rev. J. Bassett, in
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. xvi. p. 120 (1884); and ‘ Bericht ubex
Semnan Dialect,’ by A. H. Schindler, in Zeit. d. M. Resell, vol. xxxii. 8 .
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 [242r] (486/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213844.0x00005d> [accessed 13 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
![Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎242r] (486/1814) Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎242r] (486/1814)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/Mss Eur F111_33_0497.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg)