![Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎269r] (540/1814)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/Mss Eur F111_33_0551.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎269r] (540/1814)")
Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [269r] (540/1814)
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.
*'• ttei’a 4-1
Wnr eit H P ,
hant W
mS
St; 11 -
] ken ' <Wa
ho extracted it’,
7 brutal torture ^
incl ^en had tt e ,
® e ^ ^ernst,
, the ne w M®b
have alluded i n ,
nr, therefore, ate
Great Mogul’s t
Path Ali Shah m
I’ped in the narral
tion, who has alia
' this heautifulimpos-
lissible,! hope,toth
’eel to depose from its
.ambers of some size,
often farcical contrast
ns, snipped from ft
iy side upon the walls
de boy favourite, tk
Italian oil-paintings.
Eiffel Tower;
)oth hung ^
d with Pers®
1 palaces thatl
leculiar gr^’
ung’s son, *
a row O'
ill. Siort
,„ e copio 30 *' 1
. t
rway; >•'
i rn pres s i° 11
reside^ 68
TEHERAN ^
size and magnificence, was this : that whereas the Persian taste, if
restricted to its native art or to the employment of native styles,
seldom errs, the moment it is turned adrift into a new world, all
sense of perspective, proportion, or beauty, all aesthetic perception,
in fact, appears to vanish; and in proportion as its choice will
have been correct and refined amid native materials, so does it
become vulgar and degraded abroad. I am sometimes not sure
that our own countrymen can escape the same impeachment, par
ticularly when I observe rich Englishmen triumphantly carrying
away from Japan the gaudy embroideries that are made for them
alone, and which no civilised Japanese gentleman would admit into
his house.
The rooms of which I have been speaking look out on to a vast
garden court, which is entirely surrounded by the various buildings
The t ^ Le P a ^ ace ? an( ^ which I consider to be by far the
Gulistan prettiest and most effective portion of the entire enclosure.
This great garden is divided by paved avenues and gravel paths
into flower beds, tanks, and extensive lakes. Magnificent pines
and cypresses, as well as the more familiar plane and poplar, line
its alleys and create a pleasant shade. It is called the Gulistan 01
Rose Garden. Little iron bridges cross the numerous channels,
often lined with blue tiles, down which the water runs in perpetua
motion; the pools are alive with fish and decked with swans and
waterfowl; elegant kiosqnes are seen amid the trees. It was in
this lovely garden, and under an entrancing sun and sky, that I
witnessed a royal Salaam, or Levee of the Shah, to which I may
devote a few words in passing. It was the replica, on a smaller
scale, of the great ceremonial that takes place at No Rnz.
The theory of the Court Levee in Persia is not that the sub
jects attend upon, or are introduced to, tbe sovereign, but that the
Eoyil sovereign displays himself to his awestruck and admir-
Levee ing subjects. Accordingly, the two central and essential
attributes of the scene are the monarch being gazed at on the one
side, and the audience gazing on the other. Very little else
transpires, and not more than half-a-dozen persons play any other
part than that of statues during the ceremony. I will describe,
however, exactly what takes place. Upon entering the palace I
was conducted to a chamber where the regulation coffee and Italians
were served. Soldiers and officials were pouring pell-mell into the
palace on every side. Bands’ were aimlessly tuning up or playing
Y 2
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 [269r] (540/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213844.0x000093> [accessed 2 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