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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [285r] (572/1814)
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.
TEHERAN 349
Bcg 1 , and on© of tli© capitals of -Adp Arslan, tlio Great Liond In the
tenth century El Istakhri had declared it to be the most flourishing
city in the East after Baghdad, and had eulogised the hospitality and
politeness of its people ; 2 but in his discriminating* praise we may
And a sufficient corrective of the arrogant boastings to which I
have previously referred. Now fell the twofold catastrophe which,
throughout the East, wherever of population, of pride, or of opulence
great examples were to be found, is associated with the names of
Jenghiz Khan and Timur. The troops of the former took the
city by storm in A.D. 1221, on which awful day, says a local his
torian, ‘700,000 respectable persons 7 were slain. In the next
century the Great Tartar completed the work of destruction; and
Don Buy di Clavijo, passing in 1404, found it £ a great city, all in
rums; but there appeared towers and mosques; and the name of
the place was Xaharihrey (i.e. Shahr-i-Bhey ). 3 The town, however,
revived sufficiently to become one of the seats of government of
Timurs younger son Shah Bukh; and here his grandson, the
nerveless Khalil Sultan, who bartered an empire for the love ot
the fascinating Shad-el-Mulk (Delight of the Kingdom), lived a
fitful career of romance, and died. From the death of Shah Bukh
the final decline of Bhey may be traced; and succeeding centuries
have witnessed the steady decay and obliteration of its remains,
until they have reached the sorrowful condition in which they may
now be observed.
The fullest and most accurate account of the existing ruins of
Bhey is to be found in the pages of Ker Porter , 4 accompanied by a
its ruins care ^ u ^ plan. Some of the walls and towers traced by
him cannot now be so clearly defined, the lapse of time,
the advent of the railway, and the unexhausted inclination of the
Teheranis, when they are in want of bricks to build a house, to get
them from Bhey for nothing, having combined to still further reduce
the great heaps of debris which mark the site. Porter traced the
remains of a strong citadel on a projecting rocky ridge above the
Ehey was one of the places whose surrender was coolly demanded of Alp
Arslan by the Roman Emperor Romanus Diogenes before he would consent to
parley with the Seljuk sovereign. The latter’s reply was the vigorous campaign
which resulted in the capture of the vainglorious Crnsar.
Oriental Geography, p. 176 .
3 Narrative of Embassy (Hakluyt Soc.), p. 99.
4 Travels, vol. i. pp. 358 - 364 . Compare also Sir W. Ouseley, Travels vol iii
pp. 174 - 199 . ’ ' ’
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 [285r] (572/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213844.0x0000b3> [accessed 7 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