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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [379r] (760/1814)
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.
THE KOKTH-WEST AIsH WE STEEN PROVINCES
521
sent to Moscow and were enshrined in great state in the Kremlin.
There were only eight gates to the city, but fifteen colossal keys,
also manufactured for the purpose, were despatched to the same
destination, and, I doubt not, are treasured as among the proudest
trophies of Muscovite prowess. The city was restored to Persia
upon the conclusion of peace in February of the following year.
Since 1805 Tabriz has been the capital and residence of the
Heir Apparent, having been first chosen for that purpose in the
Recent case Akbas Mirza, the selected son of Fath Ali Shah,
figures Kinneir, about 1810, described it as c one of the most
wretched cities in Persia/ and as having only 30,000 inhabitants.
Morier, in 1812, gave it 50,000. In the long reign of peace that
has succeeded the Russian war, the numbers have gradually
swollen, being reported at different intervals as from 100,000 to
140,000, until at the present moment they are said to be between
170,000 and 200,000. In 1886 General Schindler reported the
town as containing eight imamzadehs, 318 mosques, 100 public
baths, 166 caravanserais, 3,922 shops, twenty-eight guard-houses
and five Armenian churches; but a good many of these figures,
represent deserted fabrics, while the majority of the so-called
mosques are tekiehs or public prayer-places ; so that the totals
give an exaggerated impression of the existing city.
Imposing and extensive as Tabriz must once have been, there
are at this moment positively only two monuments of antiquity
worthy of anv notice, and both of them are in a state of
The Blue . 17 P i • -I T- i -I -T\,r •• t
Mosque rum. I he first ol these is the Ivabud Musjid, or Elue
and Citadel ^[ og q Ue ^ so ca ll ec l from the magnificent specimens of
enamelled faience by which it was once encrusted. It was built by
Jehan Shah, the last sovereign of the Black Sheep dynasty (1437—
1468 a.d .). 1 Earthquakes have shattered its walls; its dome has
1 It is scarcely credible that M. Binder, at other times an intelligent traveller,
should have confused this monarch with the Mogul Emperor Shah Jehan. ‘The
Blue Mosque,’ he says, ‘ was built by Shah Jehan in 1670, and it is to him that
we owe the Mausoleum of Agra, of Secundra, and the palace of Delhi, which
struck me so much on my voyage to India.’ (Au Kurdistan, p. 63.) Here is quite
a neat collection of errors, apart from the crowning mistake of identity and of
two centuries. For Shah Jehan could hardly have built a mosque anywhere in
1670, having been deposed in 1658 and having died in 1665; nor did he build the
Mausoleum of Secundra, which was raised by Jehangir in honour of his father
Akbar. As regards the Blue Mosque, I have followed the account given by most
historians. At Tabriz, however, local tradition ascribes the foundation to Ghazan
Khan, the third Mongol sovereign.
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 [379r] (760/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213845.0x0000a7> [accessed 2 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