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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [396r] (794/1814)
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 NOKTH-WEST AND WESTERN PROVINCES
flaunting scarves, they presented a very martial and formidable
appearance. They are an extraordinarily ignorant and an extra
ordinarily stupid people, with neither education, schools, nor books,
and it has been said of the whole race that not one in 10,000 can
read. They have the black hair and eyes, the dark complexion,
and the sullen swagger (so characteristic, too, of the Afghans), that
are usually associated with picturesque ruffianism; and the sym
pathies or the fears of travellers have variously represented their
features as strikingly handsome, or repulsively ugly.
In 1880 occurred a serious, but abortive, Kurdish rebellion in
Persia, which afforded at once a measure of the strength and of the
, weakness of the Kurdish organisation. A chieftain
Rebellion _ _ r. -i i m i
of Sheikh named Sheikh Obeidullah, whose father, Sheikh Tahar,
Obeidullah been a fanatic of local note, hailing from a moun
tain village south of Yan in Turkish Kurdistan, where he was
head of the small tribe of Oramar, acquired a great reputation for
personal sanctity and administrative ability, and gradually came to
be looked upon as the leader of Kurdish nationality. He affected
almost royal style, entertained from 500 to 1000 visitors daily in his
diwan-khaneh, ruled with a strong hand, and was in fact a sort of
petty monarch among the Kurds. There is not a doubt that he
dreamed of an independent Kurdistan as a stepping-stone to an
attack upon the detested Shiah kingdom of Persia, which, had he
been successful in his prior object, he might have thrown into very
considerable confusion. There is also no doubt that the Turks,
whose subject he was, at first smiled upon his aspirations, not so
much because of the arriere jpensee with regard to Persia, as be
cause in the erection of an independent Kurdish principality they
saw an effective set-ofi* and checkmate to the Armenian agitation.
Encouraged by these symptoms, Sheikh Obeidullah struck, and
struck, as it first appeared, to some purpose. He crossed the
border into Persia at the head of several thousand men, and his
son, Abdul Kader, seized the town of Suj Bulak and advanced
upon Maragha, from which the Persians fled with characteristic
precipitation. A massacre of 3,000 persons was perpetrated by
the victorious Kurds at Miandoab. Soon the Kurdish army,
joined by most of the local tribes, was heard of on Mount Seir
outside the walls of Urumiah, which, while beleaguered for ten
days, is said to have been saved chiefly by the negotiations of Dr.
Cochrane, one of the American Mission, who was on friendly terms
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 [396r] (794/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213846.0x000001> [accessed 3 July 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