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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [386v] (775/1814)
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.
536 PERSIA
unusually extensive population), and lias been compared by the
fancy or the recollection of different voyagers to the lands at the
foot of the Himalayas, to the banks of the Lake of Zurich, and to
the wealthy plains of Lombardy. The city, which is situated at an
elevation of 4,400 feet above the sea, contains a population oi
between 30,000 and 40,000, the bulk of whom are Afshar Turks,,
but which comprises a considerable sprinkling of Nestorian, Jewish,
and Armenian families. In ancient history Urumiah is famous
as one of the legendary birthplaces of the scarcely less legendary
Zoroaster, and also as one of the burial-places of the Three Magi.
The city is enclosed within a wall, with seven gates, and an outer
ditch. The only interior structure of any importance is the arsenal,
a walled building in the centre of the town, the court of which
contains a dozen ancient smooth-bore six-pounders and a single
brass howitzer. Until recently, and while the Kurdish terror
arising out of the rebellion of Sheikh Obeidullah in 1880 pre
vailed, a garrison of three regiments of regulars, armed with
Werndl rifles, was quartered here. To Christian visitors the chief
interest of the place will consist in the fact that it is the head
quarters of the American, French, and English Missions to the
Nestorian populations of the neighbourhood, to which interesting
but somewhat intricate subject I now turn . 1
The Nestorian Christians of the Turco-Persian highlands have
been variously estimated at figures between 100,000 and 200 , 000 ,
. , the higher being in all probability the more correct cal-
Ongm o o l t/
of the culation. Of these by far the greater number are Turkish
Nestonans gu pj ec ^ Nestorian population of Azerbaijan being,.
according to the latest report (which nearly doubles all previous
1 As a brief bibliography of the Nestorian Question, I have compiled the follow
ing: E. Smith and H. G. Dwight, Missionary Researches, including a Journey into
Persia, 1834; Bishop H. Southgate, Tour through Armenia, Kurdistan, fyc., 2 vols.
1840; Eug. Bore (1839-40), four reports in Correspondance et Memoires,MA. \\.\
Dr. A. Grant (1840), Account of the Nestorian Christians settled in Ooroomia ; W.
F. Ainsworth (1840), Travels and Researches in Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, Chaldcea,
and Armenia, 2 vols. 1842; Rev. J. Perkins, Eight Years' Residence in Persia among
the Nestorians, 1843 ; Rev. G. P. Badger (1842), Nestorians and their Ritual, 2 vols.
1852; Sir J. Sheil (circ. 1850), Rote E to LadySheil’s Glimpses of Life, fyc. ; D. T.
Stoddard, Mission to Nestorians, 1858; Rev. J. Bassett (1871-85), The Land of the
Imams', Rev. E. L. Cutts (1876), Christians under the Crescent in Asia', W. G.
Abbott (1880), Report on the Nestorian Christians of Urmia, No. 55 in Parliamen
tary Papers, Turkey, No. 5, 1881; Publications of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s
Assyrian Mission, particularly reports by A. Riley and Rev. Canon Maclean (1884-
90) ; Mrs. Bishop (1890), Journeys in Persia, vol. ii. p. 221 et seq.
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 [386v] (775/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213845.0x0000b6> [accessed 5 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