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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎405r] (812/1814)

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. .

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THE NORTH-WEST AND WESTERN PROVINCES
060
the father was Ariyaramnes; of Ariyaramnes, the father was
Teispes ; of Teispes, the father was Achaemenes. Says Darius the
king: On that account we are called Achoemenians. From
antiquity we have descended; from antiquity those of our race
have been kings. Says Darius the king: There are eight of my
race who have been kings before me; I am the ninth. For a very
long time (or in a double line) we have been kings. Says Darius
the king : By the grace of Ormuzd I am king. Ormuzd has
granted to me the empire. Says Darius the king: These are the
countries which belong to me; by the grace of Ormuzd I have
become king of them : Persia, Susiana, Babylonia, Assyria, Arabia,
Egypt; those which are of the sea, (he., the islands of the
Mediterranean), Sparta and Ionia, Media, Armenia, Cappadocia,
Parthia, Zarangia, Aria, Chorasmia, Bactria, Sogdiana, Gandara,
the Sacse, the Sattagydes, Arachotia, and Mecia; in all, twenty-
three countries . 5
One of the figures before the king is the Pseudo-Bardes, or
Gomates, the Magian, whom Darius dispossessed and slew, and the
history of whose usurpation is here related. The fifth figure is
another pretender of the royal house, the legend over him reading :
c I am king of Sagartia, of the race of Cyaxares . 5 Above the ninth,
which, says Rawlinson, was added to the panel at a later period, runs
the inscription: ‘ This is Sakuka the Scythian.’ The entire
cuneiform inscriptions below the sculptures, which together
occupy a surface about 150 feet in length by 100 feet in height,
amount to nearly 1,000 lines, engraved in the three characters,
Persian, Susian, and Assyrian, and were executed by order of
Darius on his return from the destruction of Babylon, which had
revolted under Nebuchadnezzar, the son of Nabunit (=Labynetus
and Nabonid). Their translation was given to the world in 1847
by Rawlinson . 1
A second tablet, nearly destroyed, at the base of the rock, con
tains some mutilated equestrian figures, and an inscription, de
claring them to be the work of Gotarzes, the Parthian King, about
1 Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society x.xi. (1817),and xiv. (1853); vide also
Journal of the R. G. S., vol. ix. pp. 112-116 ; Com. F. Jones, Records of the Bombay
Government (1857); E. Flandin and P. Coste, Perse Ancienne, vol. i. pis. 16, 18,
19, and Voyage en Perse, vol. i. cap. xxviii.; and for the inscriptions, C. Kossowicz,
Inscriptiones Paltyo-Persick^ Achcemenidarwn ; and F. Spiegel, Die altpersischen
Beilins chr if ten ; E. Menant, Jjes Achemenides et les Inscriptions de la Perse ;
N. L. Westergaard, Die altpers. Keilinschr. ; and Bezold, Achcemen-heilinschr.

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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
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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎405r] (812/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213846.0x000013> [accessed 10 June 2026]

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