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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [257v] (517/1814)
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
316
vases ; a case containing photographs of the English Royal E amily ?
dating from the Shah’s first visit in 187o ? specimens of filagree
work, and a number of objects in ivory and bone, ranging from
the most delicate Chinese workmanship to a collection of six
penny toothbrushes (classification, with a vengeance!). From the
walls depend a number of mediocre or execrable oil paintings, and
large panels of glazed tile-work, representing different scenes in
the life of the present sovereign. The three finest jewels
possessed by the Shah are said to be a huge uncut ruby, once the
property of Aurungzebe, which shimmers at the top of what is
called the Kaianian crown; a large diamond, set in a ring, which
was sent by George IV. as a present to Fath Ali Shah, and was
said by the gossips to have opened at once the gates of the capital
and the heart of the monarch; and beyond all the Daria-i-Nur,
or Sea of Light, the sister diamond to the Kuh-i-Nur (Kohinoor),
or Mountain of Light, which is the property of the British Crown.
Both jewels are said to have descended from Timur to Mohammed
Shah, the puppet whom Nadir spared at Delhi, but whom he
considerately relieved of all his chief valuables, including these
diamonds and the Peacock Throne. Upon Nadir’s death, the
Kuh-i-Nur went with Ahmed Shah Durani into Afghanistan,
and descended to Shah Shuja, from whom it was taken by Runjit
Singh, the Lion of the Punjab, whence it passed by conquest into
the possession of the English Crown. The Daria-i-Nur remained
in Persia, and has been worn by its successive sovereigns. Path
Ali Shah immortalised his own vanity at the same time that he con
siderably lowered the value of the stone, by causing to be scratched
upon it his own name. 1 He was in the habit of wearing it in one
of the hazubands or armlets which he bore upon State occasions,
between the shoulder and elbow; but it is also sometimes worn
in a belt, and in other settings. I asked to see this jewel, but
it was shut up in an iron box that lay upon the seat of the
elevated throne : and it appeared that in the absence either of
the key or of the Grand Vizier, I think the latter, it could not be
shown.
Such, as well as I can remember them with the assistance of
1 I have read in different works that the stone was valued at 200,000Z., and
also that its value was depreciated to the extent of 1,000,000Z. by the act of Fath
Ali Shah; statements from which it is difficult to strike out a mean of truth. It
weighs 186 carats.
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 [257v] (517/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213844.0x00007c> [accessed 5 April 2025]
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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