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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [293v] (589/1814)
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.
364
PERSIA
•S 5 *-
convince myself that there is any genuine distinction between the
two. Fraser, the most competent authority to follow, said that he
had expected to find the inhabitants wretched, puny, and diseased •
but that, on the contrary, they were stout, well-formed, and hand
some, the children being particularly beautiful. Of the two he
reported the Mazanderanis as the darker and swarthier. Holmes
said that the sedentary population near the sea were sallow and
sickly; and I am sure it would be surprising if they were anything
else. The Mazanderanis have been commonly denounced as the
Boeotians of Persia, and the taunt of Mazanderani yabus, or pack-
horses (for which, too, the province is famous), has been levelled at
their heads. Here too, however, Fraser comes to their rescue
reporting them as quiet and inoffensive, but brave and good soldiers,
at least in their own climate, outside of which they are now never
employed. The population of the two provinces suffered terribly
from the plague of 1830-31, in which it was estimated that two-thirds
were swept away. Epidemics of small-pox and other diseases have
ravaged the district since, and it is only latterly that it has begun
again to hold up its head. , The totals for each of the two provinces
are variously estimated at from 150,000 to 250,000; but I doubt
if the data for correct enumeration have ever been collected. The
natives are said to be descended from the ancient Medes, and speak
a dialect of Persian, which differs slightly in the two provinces,
and a third form of which, with more Pehlevi words than in either
of the others, is spoken in the highlands of Talish . 1
Like their surroundings, and like themselves, the costume of
the peasantry in Grilan and Mazanderan differs from that which is
Dress ^ 0in in the cities and plains of the interior. Their
shuhvarS ). or pyjamas, are frequently made of a woollen
stuff called chalmh, which is better adapted than cotton to resist
the thorns. On their legs they wear bands of webbing rolled
lound and round, called tava^ or tua^ the counterpart, and perhaps
the eponymous forerunner of the Kashmir putti. Their sandals,
oi charuks, are made of raw hide fastened over the instep and ankle
by a thong. On the head they wear, not the felt egg-shell of the
1 ersian peasant, but a shako of sheepskin. Their costume, in
fact, is not unlike that worn by the Kurds in the mountain-border
As long - ago as the tenth century El Istakhri said: ‘ In Taberistan they have
a peculiar dialect, neither Arabick nor Persian ; and in many parts of Deilman
(Dilem) their language is not understood.’
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- -
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 [293v] (589/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213844.0x0000c4> [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