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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [301r] (604/1814)
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 379
in their architecture, which is similar to that already described at
Astrabad, and in their population, which is easily distinguished
from the Persian of the centre and south, they are sui generis.
Sari, thirty-five miles from Ashraf, is the old capital of Mazan-
deran, and has been identified by D’Anville and Pennell with the
Zadracarta of the ancients, where Alexander halted for
ban or*
fifteen days and offered sacrifice. Be this as it may, it was
the capital and residence of the independent sovereigns who ruled
in this region in the later Middle Ages. The more modern city was
also selected as his capital by Agha Mohammed Shah in the days
when he was still fighting for the throne, and when his dominions
did not extend much beyond Astrabad and Mazanderan. He built
the palace, which still exists in a ruined condition, and which con
tained pictures of the battles of Shah Ismail and Nadir Shah. In
the early part of the present century, Sari was reported to contain
from 30,000 to 40,000 inhabitants; and as late as 1874 Captain
Napier was told that the total was 16,000. It is not now supposed
to contain much over 8,000 persons, business having migrated to
Amol and Barfurush. The streets are stone-paved and the town
has a picturesque appearance. When Hanway was here in 1744,
he left on record that ‘ there are yet four temples of the Grebres, or
worshippers of fire, made of the most durable materials. These
edifices are rotund, of about 30 feet diameter, raised in height to
a point near 120 feet .’ 1 Herein there can be no doubt that the
excellent merchant was hoodwinked either by the ignorance or the
deceit of his informants; for these four (there were only in reality
three) towers, so far from being Parsi fire-altars, were merely
gumbaz, or sepulchral towers, erected in the Arab period in
memory of eminent saints. Fraser in 1822 found all three still
•standing. The largest was called Gumbaz-i-Selm-wa-Tur, and was
a hollow, circular, brick tower, 100 feet high, with two belts of
Kufic inscription and a conical roof. It was believed to be the
tomb of Hasan-ed-Dowleh, a descendant of the Buyah or Hilemi
sovereigns in the fifth century of the Hejira. The two other
imamzadehs were attributed to Yahia and Ibrahim, the sons of
the Imam Peza. Since Fraser’s day all three have been destroyed,
or partially destroyed, by earthquakes.
Barfurush, the modern commercial capital of Mazanderan, is
situated twenty-six miles west of Sari and ninety miles north-east
1 Historical Account, vol. i. p. 292.
S'c^rrC Aa-,*
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 [301r] (604/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213845.0x00000b> [accessed 6 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