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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [305v] (613/1814)
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.
388 PERSIA
The surface where not cultivated consists of natural or artificial swamps
overgrown with forest trees and thorns, particularly bramble bushes
of incredible luxuriance, and perfectly impervious., Indeed, these
brambles are called by the inhabitants the c Pehlewanha Mazunderanee/
i.e. the heroes or guardians (lit. wrestlers) of Mhzunderan, and well
do they deserve the appellation . 1
Monteith, who was a practical soldier, said, c If only the
Persians were united, nothing ought to be more desired by them
than attack from the Caspian.’ Indeed, in the present state of
communications, it should be as easy for a comparatively small
body of well led troops, with proper dispositions, to repel any in
cursion from the Caspian, as it would be to repel a storming party
from the Great Pyramid. Disembarkation, to begin with, is
difficult, cumbrous, and lengthy. An invader should find his
work cut out for him ere ever he set foot on land. But, even
supposing him to have landed, the swamps and jungles of the
lower levels should whistle with bullets and pullulate with ambus
cades ; 2 whilst, if the lowlands were either surrendered or seized,
there would remain the ambush of the forest, the covert of the
deep ravines, the invulnerable vantage points of rocky pass and
precipitous ledge. For an army whose advance was seriously and
systematically contested, to cross the Elburz would be no mean
achievement of warfare. Finally, supposing resistance to have
been either abandoned or overcome, and the country to have been
occupied by the enemy, his continued stay there should be made
a daily and nightly persecution by a peasantry, or still more a
native militia, familiar with the country and inured to guerilla
warfare. All these perils are based upon the l^pothesis of an un
welcome intruder, and a population or an army pledged to defend
its homes. If neither of these conditions be realised in North Persia,
and it may be rash to assume their possibility, there will remain
no reason why Russia should not occupy Gilan and Mazanderan
1 A Winter's Journey, vol. ii. p. 468.
2 This was what actually happened in 1804 in the early stages of the first
Russo-Persian war, when Zizianoff. the Russian Commander-in-Chief, planned a
descent upon Gilan, with a view of threatening the capital. He landed his troops
at Enzeli, but, not finding boats enough to convey them across the lagoon to
Resht, was compelled to march round the shore through the swamps and jungle.
Prom these secure recesses the natives harassed the Russian column with
musketry fire, and threw it into such confusion that the Order was given to
retreat, and the attempt was ignominiously abandoned.
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 [305v] (613/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213845.0x000014> [accessed 6 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