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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [405v] (813/1814)
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.
L««-' .HiTr'TW'rll W 'TW
566
PERSIA
46—51 a.I). In a later archway excavated in the centre of the original
sculpture, an Arabic inscription, said to be engraved like a palimpsest
over an earlier epigraph, relates the teims upon which the neighbour
ing
caravanserai
A roadside inn providing accommodation for caravans (groups of travellers).
was bequeathed to the people. Some of
Nature of ^ superior scu l p tures and inscriptions are now illegible
gravings or un distinguishable, but the main cuneiform inscription is
still almost intact. The great king must certainly have intended to
leave his proclamation for all time in selecting a spot so difficult of
access, where the sculptures can only have been executed by the aid
of scaffoldings. But how laboriously and how conscientiously these
ancient craftsmen worked ! First the surface of the rock was
smoothed, then every crevice or unsound place was either stopped
with lead or filled with inlaid stone so nicely fitted that the joining
escapes the eye. Then the characters were chiselled with an
accuracy and a regularity quite marvellous. Finally, over all was
spread a coating of siliceous varnish as a protection from the ravages
of the climate; its broken or denuded flakes being even now
infinitely harder than the rock itself.
«/
Further to the east, in a mountain gorge of Mount Elvend, near
Hamadan, are two other tablets with trilingual inscriptions, known
G-anjna as Gr an j naiIiel]L (History of a Treasure ), 1 relating the names
meh and titles of Darius son of Hystaspes and of his son
Xerxes and an invocation to Ormuzd, which first afforded
a clue to the interpretation of the cuneiform alphabet.
Finally, I turn to Hamadan, in the province of Irak-Ajemi, but
more naturally falling for purposes of description under the western
provinces—a city which, both from its historical interest
and its present state, cannot be omitted in any account of
the Persian dominions. Planted at the foot of Mount Elvend 2 (the
Orontes of the ancients) from which it derives an abundant w r ater
supply, and in a plain thickly besprinkled with vineyards, orchards,
and gardens, but whose elevation is 6,000 feet above the sea, it en
joys one of the finest situations in Persia. Its streets are narrow and
filthy , and its inhabitants are not more than 20 , 000 , but its bazaars
1 Vide Texier, I?Armenie, &c., vol. i. pis. 60-1; and Flandin and Coste, vol. i.
pis. 24, 26. All Pehlevi or cuneiform inscriptions are supposed by the peasants
and nomads in Persia to signify the whereabouts of buried treasure. Hence the
suspicion with which they regard the scientific visitor with his photographic
camera or squeezes or spade.
\ide an Account of Exped. to Karaghan and Elvend, by J. E. Polak (1882),
in Mi till. d. Geogr. Gesellsch. in Wien, 1883.
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 [405v] (813/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213846.0x000014> [accessed 7 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