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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [331v] (665/1814)
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.
PERSIA
434
recalls the proud tone in which an Artaxerxes or Darius spoke to
his tributary millions, and which may still be read in the graven
record of rock-wall and tomb. He remains the Shahinshah or
King of Kings; the Zil Allah, or Shadow of God; the Kibleh
Alem, or Centre of the Universe ; * Rxalted like the planet Saturn •
Well of Science; Footpath of Heaven; Sublime Sovereign, whose
standard is the Sun, whose Splendour is that of the Firmament *
Monarch of armies numerous as the stars/ 1 * * Still would the
Persian subject endorse the precept of Sadi, that 4 The vice ap
proved by the king becomes a virtue ; to seek opposite counsel
is to imbrue one’s hands in his own blood.’ The march of time
has imposed upon him neither religious council nor secular council,
neither ulema nor senate. Elective and representative institutions
have not yet intruded their irreverent features. No written check
exists upon the royal prerogative.
And yet the power of the Persian king by no means corre
sponds to its arrogant definition, nor is it now equal to what it
once was. In the first place, the Shah is no longer the
Real cur- . °
tailment of religious head even of the Shiah community of the
pieiogative ]y[ ussll ] man WO rld. At no time have the sovereigns of
Persia enjoyed the spiritual supremacy that was conceded to the
Khalifs of Baghdad, and that is still claimed for the Sultan of
Constantinople. But the Sefavi monarchs, by virtue of their
descent from a famous saint, who was himself a Seyid, or descendant
of Ali, the son-in-law of the Prophet, were invested with a semi-
sacred character, to which alone can we attribute the passiveness
with which, for a whole century, their subjects submitted to the rule
of a succession of capricious and dissolute drunkards. Chardin says
that they were regarded as vicars or successors of the Imams; and
Kaempfer records that the water in which they had washed was
deemed holy, and was eagerly sought after as a cure for all com
plaints. No such pretensions, however, have been made, or could
be made, on behalf of any subsequent dynasty; least of all on be
half of a family like the Kajars, of Turkish extraction. The Shah
of Persia, therefore, must be dissociated from any claims of personal
1 Vide Fowler’s Three Years in Persia, vol. ii. p. 12, for an enumeration of the
Shah’s titles. The name Shah is the Khshayathiya, or Khshatya, of the Cuneiform
Inscriptions. From the same root, indicating pre-eminence, come Khshatrapa,
i.e. Satrap, Khshayarsha, i.e. Xerxes, Arthkhshatra, i.e. Artaxerxes, and Khshath
raputhra = Shaputra = Sapor.
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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 [331v] (665/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213845.0x000048> [accessed 10 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