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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [398v] (799/1814)
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.
558 PERSIA
disposed of elsewhere. When Captain Napier was here in 1875
he found a surplus produce from the preceding harvest of 110,000
tons, which the owners were prepared to sell at five
shillings per kharvar (649 lbs.). It is also a famous
locality for the breed of horses and of mules. The Kurdish carpets
which figure so largely in the bazaars of Constantinople and other
Oriental cities come largely from this neighbourhood, and are
woven in the tents or in the open air by the women on a frame of
rude stakes fixed in the ground. The tents, which are the sole
habitation of the nomad tribes, are made of black goats’ hair
blankets stretched upon poles, and are often very considerable
structures, divided by reed-partitions into several compartments,
used as the diwan-khaneh, or reception chamber, the men’s and
the women’s quarters, the kitchen, the stables, and the cowshed.
The majority of the sedentary Kurds of Ardelan and Kerman-
shah, who have long been settled in villages, have completely
abandoned both the national instincts and the national dress, and
are not at first sight to be mistaken from Persians . 1 It is said
that the revenue exacted in Persian Kurdistan is 11. per house or
tent, as against 11. 6s. in the Ottoman dominions.
The capital, Kermanshahan, with about 40,000 inhabitants,
is a place of central position and consequent importance.
Kerman- Almost equidistant, between 250 and 300 miles, from
shahan Tabriz, Teheran, Isfahan, and Baghdad, it commands
roads to each of those places, and is, therefore, invested with
considerable strategical value. Being on the high road of the
great pilgrim route to Kerbela, it is said to be visited yearly by over
100,000 pilgrims. Founded by Varahran IV., son or brother of
Shapur III,, who was known as Kerman Shah, from having been
ruler of Kerman, it has not played the part in history that might
have been expected, being overshadowed by its neighbour Hamadan
(Ecbatana). It was fortified by Nadir Shah, but the walls, though
repaired in this century, are now in ruins, and the ditch is choked
with rubbish. In the early part of the century Path Ali Shah
conferred the Governorship of this province and citv upon his
eldest son, Mohammed Ali Mirza, whose jealousy of Abbas Mirza,
the Heir Apparent, plays so large a part in the pages of contem
porary writers. He, and his son Imam Kuli Mirza, who succeeded
For an account of the life of the Persian Kurds vide H. Binder, Ate Kurdis
tan, pp. 350-353.
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 [398v] (799/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213846.0x000006> [accessed 10 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