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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [253v] (509/1814)
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.
308 PERSIA
space being occupied by its courts and buildings. From the south
east corner the Nasirieh Grate leads down to the eastern entrance to
the palace and to the bazaars. From the south-west corner the
Dowlet Gate conducts to the Khiaban-i-Almasieh (or Avenue of
Diamonds), from which the western or public entrance to the Ark
and palace is gained. Upon this gate, when the Shah is in
Teheran, floats the royal standard.
Two other meidans are worthy of notice. One is the Meidan-i-
Mashk, a vast open space, over a quarter of a mile in length, which
Other usec l as a Champ de Mars, or parade-ground, for the
meidans garrison, and where I witnessed a military display which
I shall afterwards describe. This meidan is a little to the north
west of the Tup Meidan, and is reached by a gateway opening out
of the so-called Street of Ambassadors, which leads from the north
west angle of the Gun Square. The remaining square, called the
Meidan-i-Shah, is outside the gardens of the Ministry of War,
and the more southerly portion of the palace enclosure. It contains
a large tank in the centre, and a colossal brass gun, known as the
Tup-i-Murvarid, or Cannon of Pearls, which has always been an
especially sacred
bast
(Per.) A Persian custom allowing an individual to seek asylum at a designated location.
, or sanctuary, for the fugitive criminal, a
veritable c horns of the altar,’ in Teheran. Successive chroniclers
of the capital have given different and inconsistent accounts of this
monster cannon, some alleging that it was brought by Nadir
Shah from Delhi, where it was originally decorated with a string
of pearls near the muzzle, others that it was cast by him in Persia.
Sir R. K. Porter says that it was the same gun that Chardin
saw in the meidan at Isfahan; but, as I cannot find that
Chardin saw or described any particularly big gun there, I am loth
to accept this explanation. Elsewhere I have read that the gun
was cast by Kerim Khan Zend at Shiraz, and that, having been
kept for some time under cover in an imamzadeh there, it acquired
a sacred character, which it has retained since its removal to the
Kajar capital. Jehangir Khan, the late Minister of Fine Arts, in
formed me, however, that, according to Persian historians, this
cannon is one of the Portuguese ordnance captured by the allied
Persians and British at Ormuz in 1622. 1 Whatever be the truth, its
1 This version has already been given by Mme. Serena {Homines et Choses en
Perse, p. 54), although she proceeds, quite gratuitously, to make Ormuz ‘ a port in
the island of Muscat in the
Persian Gulf
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
’; Muscat being neither in the Persian
Gulf, nor an island, nor the site of Ormuz.
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 [253v] (509/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213844.0x000074> [accessed 8 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