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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [384v] (771/1814)
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.
532
PERSIA
whilst until the Russian war there were kept here under lock and
key a library of the richest manuscripts and illuminated Ivorans,
the gift of the same monarch, the bulk of which, in spite of the
curses openly invoked upon the spoliator on the title-page of each
volume, were mercilessly swept off by General Paskievitch for the
Imperial Library at St. Petersburg . 1 In the present century
Ardebil has taken the place of Alamut as a State prison ; and
hither, upon the suppression of the revolts that had attended the
accession of Mohammed Shah, were despatched the unsuccessful
pretenders, two of whom were uncles of the sovereign.
Not the least remarkable among the natural features of the
mountain system of which Azerbaijan constitutes a part is the
Daria-i- cluster of great lakes which are here encountered at a
Shahi, or very considerable elevation above the sea. In Russian
Ummiah territory is Lake Gotcha, to the east of Erivan; in
Turkish territory is Lake Van, to the west of Van. But the
largest, to which I now turn, is in Persian territory, and can be
seen from the citadel of Tabriz. This lake is commonly called in
maps and by Europeans Lake Urumiah, from the well-known
city, twelve miles distant from its western shore ; but this name
does not appear to be known to the Persians, who generally call it
Daria-i-Shahi, or Royal Sea. It is the Kapauta of Strabo, his version
of the Persian kabuda, or blue. The lake is eighty-four miles long,
between twenty and thirty miles broad, has a circumference of nearly
300 miles, and an elevation of 4,100 feet above the sea. Indented
with bays and inlets, studded particularly in the southern part with
islands, surrounded by wooded shores and hills, with Mount Sehend
rising to a height of 11,800 feet from its eastern side, and with
the white cone of Ararat piercing the distant clouds on the north,
this noble sheet of water presents a fine and delightful prospect.
Accounts vary as to its earlier history ; for on the one hand it is
said to have formerly covered a very much larger area, so much so
that the peninsula of Shahi or Shahkuh, which juts forward into it
from the eastern bank, is reported (even as late as by Kinneir) to
1 For descriptions of Ardebil, vide Olearins (1637), Ambassador's Travels,
p. 38, &c.; C. Le Bran (1703), Travels, p. 170; Morier’s Second Journey (1812),
p. 253; Sir J. Sheil (1834), Note C to Lady Sheil’s Glimpses of Life, Jc .; W. R.
Holmes (1843), Sketches on the Caspian Shores, cap. iv. Popular legend derives
the name from two Divs or Genii, named Ard and Bil, who are said to have assisted
King Solomon in clearing a passage through the mountains here, in order to drain
off the waters of Central Iran into the Caspian.
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 [384v] (771/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213845.0x0000b2> [accessed 11 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