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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [302r] (606/1814)
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.
‘i
THE NORTHERN PROVINCES 381
Fifteen miles from Barfurush is the port or roadstead of
Meshed-i-Ser, at the month of the river Babil. Here the Russian
Meshed-t steamers of the Caucasus and Mercury touch in their
circumnavigation of the Caspian, and there is a very
considerable trade, both export and import, principally with
Astrakhan. The harbour accommodation is of the most meagre
description, or, rather, does not exist. The rival influences of river
and wind have, in a manner before described, created a formidable
bar which no effort is made to pierce or dredge. The steamers are
obliged to lie out in the offing at a distance of between two and
three miles from the shore; and passengers and cargo, as at
Enzeli, can only be disembarked in calm weather, when they are
transferred to native, flat-bottomed barges. ‘ The coast here is a
line of low sandhills, overlooking a steep and narrow beach of
daik-grey sand. There are no shells on the shore, no birds in
the air, no seaweed, no fish, nothing but green water-snakes,
tortoises, and frogs . 51 There is a Persian Custom-house at
Meshed-i-Ser, and a lighthouse, with no light. . The only other
edifice worthy of notice is an imamzadeh of a brother of Imam
Reza, who appears to have strewn his dead relatives about this
neighbourhood as thick as autumnal leaves in Yallombrosa.
Amol, the third town of Mazanderan, and the present residence
of the Governor of the province, is, unlike Barfurush, but like
Vmol Sari, a place that has figured in history. In the time of
Yakut it was the first city in Taberistan : and it lono*
retained a celebrity for its cotton and carpet manufactures. It is
situated on the banks of the Haraz, about twenty-three miles west
of Barfurush, the river being crossed outside the town by a very
old stone bridge, between 80 and 100 yards long and not more
than a yard in width. Ginelin, 120 years ago, found the popula
tion of Amol to be only 800 persons, but 50 years later Fraser,
still in his generous mood, reported from 35,000 to 40,000, although
on his second visit in 1834 the place was ‘ a ruin, a desert—the
streets grown with jungle, and not a soul to be seen / 2 The
population now is said to be about 8 , 000 . There are the ruins here
of a mausoleum, erected by Shah Abbas, over a Seyid, called by
Fraser Mir Buzurg, who was his mother’s ancestor, and raised
1 Stack, Six Months in Persia, vol. ii. p. 202 .
2 Compare Travels South of the Gasman, cap. viii., with A Winter’s Journey,
vol. ii. p. 453 .
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 [302r] (606/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213845.0x00000d> [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