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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [260v] (523/1814)
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
320
have been added to the existing throne. Above all there is no
peacock. 1
At this stage, however, I felt compelled to remember that
Tavernier, while particularly describing the Peacock Throne, had
Testimony also left on record that ‘The Great Mogul has seven
of Bernier thrones, some set all over with diamonds, others with
rubies, emeralds, and pearls ; ’ and that Hanway had reported Nadir
as carrying off nine other thrones in addition * and it might be
therefore that the Teheran throne, though not the Peacock Throne,
was one of the rifled thrones of the Emperors of Hindustan. Such
a theory seemed to find a momentary corroboration in the descrip
tion given by another Frenchman, Bernier, in the same century, of
a throne (clearly not the Peacock Throne of Tavernier) at Delhi.
The throne that he saw was supported by six high pillars or feet of
massive gold, set with rubies, emeralds, and diamonds. Its value
was estimated at forty millions of
rupees
Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf.
(a rupee at that time was
equivalent to half a crown) or to sixty millions of French livres.
And yet, to maintain the confusion, this too was a Peacock Throne,
for he added :—
The art and workmanship of this throne is not answerable to the
matter ; that which I find upon it best devised are two peacocks
covered with precious stones and pearls, which are the work of a
Frenchman called that was an admirable workman.
Nevertheless, this could not be the Teheran throne; for the latter
has seven legs; nor was an acute observer like Bernier likely to
have committed the error that Morier did, and mistaken its winged
supporters for peacocks.
In this dilemma, but with the growing conviction that the
modern Takht-i-Taous had a very shadowy connection, if any at
what all, with the plundered treasures of Delhi, I turned to con-
history temporaneous records. I found in Malcolm 2 that Nadir
Shah was so fond of the real Peacock Throne of the
Great Mogul that he had an exact duplicate of it made in other
1 Morier, who saw Fath Ali Shah seated in audience upon this throne in 1809,
described it with no great accuracy. He said, ‘ On each side of the back are two
square pillars, on which are perched birds—probably intended for peacocks—
studded with precious stones of every description, and holding each a ruby in
their beaks ’ (First Journey, p. 191). Now, no one who really inspected them could
possibly mistake the birds for peacocks; nor are there (now at any rate) rubies
in their beaks.
2 History of Persia, vol. ii. p. 37.
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 [260v] (523/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213844.0x000082> [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