![Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎296r] (594/1814)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/Mss Eur F111_33_0605.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎296r] (594/1814)")
Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [296r] (594/1814)
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
369
revive. Under other auspices, a different tale might verv likely
soon be told; for the disease having been expelled, and the soil
an c iroate remaining what they formerly were, there is no valid
reason why so lucrative an industry should either be abandoned
or should cease to flourish.
At present the silk-worm is cultivated, in addition to Gilan
and Mazanderan, in Azerbaijan (where in 1885 the crop was
Present lbs.), in Khorasan (16,250 lbs.), and in the central
production ^ Wh ° Se chief marts are ^shan, Isfahan,
Yezd, and Kerman (13,000 lbs.). In the two latter cases,
the produce is wholly, or almost wholly, required for local consump
tion, and it is from Gilan and Azerbaijan alone that the export now
takes place to Russia, and still more to Marseilles. The native
manufactures in which Persian silk is employed are velvets
rocades satms and sarsenet, as well as plain silk, and silk mixed
with cotton. Since pure silk is forbidden by the Koran, such of
the Persians as are sticklers for that somewhat neglected code of
precepts, salve their consciences by wearing silk with the slightest
admixture of cotton. Of the modern fabrics that I saw in the
above-mentioned towns, I admired the velvets of Kashan the most.
d Persian velvets and velvet brocades are superb, but are very
difficult to procure m pieces of any size. Silk carpets are still
made to order at Kashan and Sultanabad, and are as magnificent
anc as cost y as heretofore; but, unless carefully watched, the
manufacturer flies to the use of cheap aniline dyes, and the
rained™ U0 durabi % of tone of the fabric are irretrievably
Befoie I quit the subject let me very briefly describe the
manner m which the silk cultivation is conducted in northern Persia.
n the month of April the natives, and chiefly the women,
take the eggs, attached to a sheet of paper, and expose
them to the warmth of the human body by wearing them
beneath their clothes, next to the skin. After the lapse of three
t ays the eggs are hatched and the caterpillars appear. They have
before them a life of about forty days, which is spent in alternate
for 1 !t additi0 “ t0 information contained in Consular Reports, let me recommend
for a study of the Persian silk trade an essay by A. Chodzko, f)e VU'eve des vers
M 104 sUU 8 ’ W ’ R ' H ° lmeS ’ ° n tke CaS ‘ ,ian 8h °™’
fn Persia V U PP- 414-422; and a paper on ‘ Silk Production
-Persia in the Journal of the Society of Arts, Nov. 3 L 9 , 1886 . For the fkmres of
production m 1889, vide a later chapter on the ‘ Resources of Persia ’
VOL. I.
B B
Mode of
cultiva
tion
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 [296r] (594/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213845.0x000001> [accessed 2 July 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