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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [369r] (740/1814)
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.
INSTITUTIONS AND REFORMS
an emanation from that source, into which it will ultimately again be
resolved. According to the Babi view, God is not a person, as m
the Bible or in the Koran, but a spiritual essence, perpetually
communicating and reproducing itself. Man is compounded of
this essence, subject to the defilements of the flesh, but by reason
of his origin is essentially divine. To whatever extent the average
Babi has imbibed or holds these doctrines, he appears to have
absolutely cut himself adrift from Mohammed and the Koran. He
believes in the divinity of Beha, and, it may be added, of Christ, as
several incarnations of the Deity; and his scriptures may be de
scribed as a curious amalgam of the Bible, Sufiism, and the Koran.
Mr. Browne thinks it an error to credit the Babis with a belief in
the transmigration of souls.
Among other properties claimed or observances pursued by the
Babis, may be mentioned the gift of clairvoyance, or foresight, of
Observ which instances are related that appertain to the mix acu-
ances lous. They have also a peculiar sox*t of handwriting,
very little in vogue, a seal with a peculiar device, a particular
form of salutation, and an elaborate buxial service.
If Babism continues to grow at its present rate of progression,
a time may conceivably come when it will oust Mohammedanism
Future of from the field in Persia. This, I think, it would be un-
Babism likely to do, did it appear upon the ground under the
flag of a hostile faith. But since its recruits are won from the
best soldiers of the garrison whom it is attacking, there is greater
reason to believe that it may ultimately prevail. To those who
know anything of the Persian character, so extraoidinarily sus
ueptible of religious influences as it is, it will be obvious to how
many classes in that country the new creed makes successful
•appeal. The Sufis, or mystics, have long held that there must
always be a Pir, or Prophet, visible in the flesh, and are very
•easily absorbed into the Babi fold. Even the orthodox Mussulman,
whose mind’s eye has ever been turned m eager anticipation upon
the vanished Imam, is amenable to the cogent reasoning, by which
it is sought to prove that either the Bab, or Beha, is the Mahdi,
according to all the predictions of the Koran and the traditions.
The pure and suffering life of the Bab, his ignominious death, the
heroism and martyrdom of his followers, will appeal to many others
who can find no similar phenomena in the contemporaneous records
of Islam. Finally, all those who secretly rebel against the tyranny
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 [369r] (740/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213845.0x000093> [accessed 8 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