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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [289r] (580/1814)
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.
THE NORTHERN PROVINCES
355
(a Pelilevi, or old Persian word for mountains) and cinderun (within,
the inner part, whence its application to the women’s quarters in a
house), i.e. the hollow between the mountains and the sea. Gilan
has been commonly said to be derived from a word signifying-
mud ; and this would certainly be appropriate to a region in which
that is the chief tangible commodity, and which an experienced and
sympathetic traveller has summed up as ‘ moist, muggy, villainous
Gilan.’ But this derivation is disputed by some professors, though
I am not aware that they have found anything to suggest in its place.
The name is, no doubt, adapted from the Gelee, who inhabited the
south shores of the Caspian, and who bequeathed a title both to
the sea, the country, and the principal local manufacture . 1 The
characteristics of these two provinces are so similar, if not identical
a slight difference of latitude being the only serious disparity to
which they can lay claim, that I propose to treat them in conjunc
tion. Mazanderan starts in the neighbourhood of Astrabad on the
east, and runs for a distance of 220 miles along the coast to an
unimportant river, which is the boundary of Gilan. Prom this
point Gilan continues round the south-west curve of the Caspian
for a further distance of 150 miles, terminating in the mountain
distnct of Palish. It is this transmontane maritime belt, 370 miles
m length and with a breadth varying from twenty to sixtv miles
witli which I am called upon to deal . 2
1 Marco Polo (cap. iv.) called the Caspian ‘Mer de Gheluchelan ’ (i.e. Ghel on
Ghelan), and the silk ‘ Ghelle.’ ' ou
2 As the provinces of Mazanderan and Gilan stand apart from the rest of
Persia in their physical features, so they do in the literature to which they have
gwen birth. I append here, therefore, for the benefit of such travellers on
s udents as wish to make a special study of this part of the country, a small
c ronological bibliography of the principal works which I have found’relating
thereto. General mention of the two provinces is of course frequent in largef
works upon the whole of Persia. For journeys through the country irrespective
of more general observation, vide the routes printed at the end of the chapter
Pietio della Valle (1618), Via^i (Let. iv.), or Zes Fameux Voyages X~c ■ Sir
Thomas Herbert (1627), Some Yeares' Travels, p. 170, et seq ( 3 rd edit V n't
P. H. Bruce (1722-3), Memoirs, Two English Gentlemen (1739), JourL t^oZ t
Russia into Persia, Jonas Hanway (1743-1744), Historical Account of Brim,
Trade over the Caspian, vols. i. and ii.; S. G. Gmelin (1771-1772^ ■ 7
Beeoiivertes vols. ii. and iii.; R. Hablizt (1773-1774), BemerTmnyen’gem.aZindZ
pers'isehen Landsehaft Ghilan (St. Petersburg, 1783) ; G. Forster at
from Bengal to England, vol. ii.; Colonel Trezel (1805-18061 K ,]’ ,
V, .Arnedee Zauloert; Sir W. Ouseley (1812) ( , IZ^ln tlTZ lZZ
aLTY w ; Fr T (1822) ’ ? a - elsmtheSouth Banlts (’» •
(1834), A muter s Journey,™!. 11 . Letters zv„ zvi., xvii.; Colonel W. Monteith
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 [289r] (580/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213844.0x0000bb> [accessed 4 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