Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [377v] (757/1814)
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.
aasam
520
PERSIA
On the other hand, less favoured or more exacting was c the most
noble magnifico ? Vincentio d’Alessandri, who in 1571 said -
The women are mostly ugly, though of fine features and noble
dispositions. They wear robes of silk, veils on their heads, and show
their faces openly.
All the writers of this and the succeeding epoch concur in
eulogies of the great commercial wealth and importance of Tabriz.
Commer- Tavernier, in the middle of the next century, said that
cial import- c money trolls about in that place more than any other
part of Asia .’ 1 Chardin, however, in 1671, has left the
most glowing account of its extent and features :—
It is really and truly a very large and potent city ; as being the
second in Persia, both in dignity, in grandeur, in Riches, in Trade, and
in number of Inhabitants. It contains 15,000 Houses and 15,000
shops. I did not see many palaces or magnificent houses at Tauris.
But there are the fairest Basars that are in any place of Asia. And it
is a love]y sight to see their vast extent, their largeness, their beautiful
Duomos, and the Arches over 'em ; the number of people that are
there all the day long, and the vast quantities of merchandise with
which they are filled . 2
The enthusiastic Frenchman went on to say that the city contained
2 o 0 mosques, 300 caravanserais, and a population of 550,000, and
that
The Piazza of Tauris is the most spacious Piazza that ever I saw
m any city of the world, and far surpasses that of Ispahan. The
urks have several times drawn up within it 30,000 men in Battel.
In the present century the most notable experience of Tabriz
een its unresisted occupation by the Russian army under
Capture the campaign of 1827. The Governor
Russians Wa t seizec ^ an< ^ handed over as a prisoner to the Russians,
. . a . n ^ 16 ^ a tt er occupied the Citadel and captured the town
without firing a shot. Nevertheless the ‘ St. Petersburg Gazette,’ in
C ], r + niC |- ln ? p US ac ^ , ' ev< ' Irien t-. stated that the garrison made a most
o stmate defence, but that nothing could impede the ardour of the
Imperial troops who carried all before them, took numerous stands
° colours, and finally wrested from the Governor the keys of the
, * >7 ' ^ co ours, which had been specially manufactured in the
azaai at a nz and then artifically perforated with bullet-holes, were
1 Travels, book i. cap. iii.
2 Travels, pp. 352-370.
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 [377v] (757/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213845.0x0000a4> [accessed 27 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
![Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎377v] (757/1814) Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎377v] (757/1814)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/Mss Eur F111_33_0768.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg)