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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [312v] (627/1814)
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.
400 PERSIA
at Doshan Tepe. The Shah was so consumed with anxiety for the
welfare of the mother that, being detained by the ceremonies of
the Tazieh in Teheran, he had the telegraph wires in the capital
connected with an improvised bureau opposite the cage of the
animal, so as to be in possession of the latest news ; and finally
cashiered an unsympathetic clerk who telegraphed, c The beasts
are doing well,’ on the ground that c the true beast was not the
lion, but the man who could call the lion by such a name 5
Almost the same in kind, if superior in degree, is the intense
fondness which the Shah has developed in recent years for the
little boy, known as the Aziz-es-Sultan, whom he brought with
him to England, and whom he seldom allows out of his sight at
Teheran. This child, whose name is Gholam Ali Khan, is a
nephew of the Amin-i-Akdas (Trusted of the Sovereign), one of
the Shah’s favourite wives. She was only a Kurdish slave, and
her brother, the father of the child, was a peasant, as his appear
ance and manner sufficiently indicated when he came over to
England in the retinue of the Shah. There seems to have been
no truth in the stories circulated throughout Europe of a super
stitious origin of the Shah’s attachment to this boy, which would
appear to be no more than one of the peculiar caprices of the royal
nature. The child, who is eleven or twelve years of age, is a
Field-Marshal, and wears a huge portrait of the Shah, set in
diamonds, round his neck. While in Teheran, I saw him driving
about in a state and style second only to that adopted by the
sovereign ; and he was deputed by the latter as a special compli
ment to make a call upon the British Minister. If the lad is not
well, the Shah is at once in a bad humour, and is incapable of
attending to affairs of State.
From these anecdotes of personal idiosyncrasies which I have
related, not so much because of the interest attached in popular
The Shah estimation to the deeds and fancies of sovereigns, as
as ruler because they illustrate the bent of a character which
could hardly have been moulded in any other surroundings than
those of an Asiatic throne, I turn to a contemplation of Nasr-ed-
Din Shah in his more important capacity as a monarch and a
statesman. Here he possesses many excellent business qualities,
and betrays a voracious appetite for any and every affair of State.
Kising early in the morning, he devotes the forenoon to audience
with his ministers and to matters of State. The smallest detail is
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 [312v] (627/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213845.0x000022> [accessed 28 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