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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [387v] (777/1814)
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.
PERSIA
£38
1 at ions, is tli 6 History of tlioir ecclGsiastical polity. Elie remnant
saved from the slaughter of Tamerlane appear to have remained
united under the headship of a Patriarch, known as IVIar hnas,
residing at El Kush, north of Mosul, until the middle of
tic°ai le or a3 ‘ the sixteenth century; when the bishop of the Eastern
ganisation Hying on tHe Turco-Persian frontier, declared
his independence and founded the patriarchal line of Mar Shimun
(Anglice, the Lord Simon), which title has been borne by his suc
cessors and has remained in the same family evei since. Early in
the succeeding century a section of the Mosul Nbstorians went
over to Rome ; their allegiance was accepted by the Pope, who
consecrated their Patriarch under the title of Mai A usuf (the
Lord Joseph), his residence being at Diarbekr and his official
diocese being that of Babylon. In 1778 the whole of the Mosul
or Western branch of the Hestonans followed suit, and therefore
at this period, about a century ago, the church was clearly, though
not evenly, divided into two portions—the Eastern or Nestorian
proper, under Mar Shimun, and the Western or Ohaldaean (as it
was more commonly called), in communion with Rome. In 187o,
the latter organisation, already much shaken by the celebrated
Bull of Papal Infallibility in 1869, suffered further disruption,
owing to a Bull from Rome that superseded the old Assyrian Canon
touching the election of a Patriarch. Mar Elia Melus, the Mattran
or Metropolitan, residing at Mosul, led another schism, which has
repudiated Rome, and which, though greatly inferior in numbers
to its rivals, includes many of the chief families in the neighbour
hood of Mosul. The large village of Telkief, on the Tigris, is a
stronghold of this sect; and I saw some of its natives, magnificent
specimens of manhood and strongly attached to the English, who
are regularly employed as sailors upon Messrs. Lynch’s steamers on
the Tigris. There are, therefore, at this moment three branches
of Syrian Christians : (1) the Old Nestorians, under Mar Shimun ;
( 2 ) the Old Chaldmans, under the Patriarch of Babylon; (3) the
New Chaldaeans, under Mar Elia Melus of Mosul. The first named
is the most numerous of the three, and is supposed to contain
nearly 100,000 members, 40,000 in Persia and 60,000 in Turkey.
It is with the Eastern branch, under Mar Shimun, that in a work
The Mar dealing with Persia I am here alone concerned. Of this
Shimun church there are eight bishops, two of whom (Mar Goriel
and Mar Johnan) are attached to Persian dioceses. The Mar
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 [387v] (777/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213845.0x0000b8> [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