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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [244v] (491/1814)
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.
PERSIA
296
part, that correspond with sufficient exactitude with the words
of Pliny. Starting from Mahalleh Bagh, which a Persian geo
grapher identifies with the Plain of Ivhar, hoth Pietio della Valle,
in 1618, and Sir Thomas Herbert, accompanying Sir Robert Sherley
and Sir Dodmore Cotton, in 1627, proceeded through a defile, which
they describe in very similar terms, to Hablah Pud and Firuzkuh,
whence they continued their march to the Caspian. Of this defile
Pietro della Valle says that, after leaving Mahalleh Bagh, he entered
a deep and very narrow valley {ana profonda e angustissima valle),
with lofty mountains on either side (i monti son sempre altissimi
delle bande), and in some turnings so narrow that to conduct a litter
through it was a critical undertaking (eke ci diede fastidio per far
passar la lettiga), and that through this valley flowed a rivulet of
salt water. Herbert, in his inimitable phraseology, says: c The
greater part of this night’s journey was through the bottoms of
transected Taurus, whose stupendious forehead wets itself in the
ayery middle region ; the fretum, or lane, is about forty yards broad
even below, and bestrewed with pibbles; either side is walled with
an amazing hill, higher than to reach up at twice shooting; and
for eight miles so continues, agreeing with the relation Pliny and
Solinus make of it; a prodigious passage, whether by art or nature
questionable; I allude it unto nature, God’s handmaid.’ The
description of these writers does not essentially differ from that
left by A. Chodzko, formerly Russian Consul at Resht, of the pass
which he visited in company with Sir H. Rawlinson, in 1835. He
calls it Gardan-i-Sialek, and describes it as a tremendous defile,
2,500 yards long, with bare precipitous rock walls, from 650 to
1,000 feet in height, the passage between them being only thirty
feet wide in its broadest and five feet in its narrowest part. 1 On
the other hand, it is quite credible that the passes of Pliny, Della
Valle, Herbert, and Rawlinson, may not be the same Caspian Gates
through which Darius fled and Alexander marched ; and that there
may be more than one claimant to the title. This is, on the whole,
the most probable solution, the Sirdara pass, in the opinion of the
most learned critics, corresponding more accurately to the account
of Arrian (cf. also Quintus Curtius and Amm. Marcellinus), than
does any other pass to the north or east. 2 It cannot, however, to my
1 Annates des Voyages, 1850, Part III.
2 This view is sustained by the German writers Spiegel, JEiranische Alterthums-
hunde, vol. ii. p. 582; Droysen, GescMclite Alexanders, p. 257; Tomaschek, Zur hist.
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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 [244v] (491/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213844.0x000062> [accessed 25 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