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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [406v] (815/1814)
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
568
earlier Median kingdom, where Deioces erected the citadel with seven
concentric and coloured walls, painted like those of the terraced
temples of Babylon to represent the celestial spheres ? Upon this
point authorities differ, and are likely to continue to differ, until
the discovery of some relic or inscription throws light upon one of
the dark places of history. Outside the modern town is an eleva
tion, known as the Musallah, which has always been occupied by
a citadel (until levelled by Agha Mohammed Shah); but it is
doubtful whether this eminence can be made to correspond with
the Herodotean description. Sir H. Rawlinson has boldly sought
a solution of the difficulty, by locating the Median Ecbatana at a
spot called Takht-i-Suleiman (Throne of Solomon), about half-way
between Hamadan and Tabriz, where, upon a conical hill, are to he
found extensive ruins and the remains of a great fire-temple . 1 It
is certainly strange, if Hamadan be the site of a city, said by the
early Greeks to have been scarcely inferior to Babylon, that barely
a remnant worthy of the name should have been discovered. A
rudely carved stone lion, or rather the battered semblance thereof,
lies not far from the city, and is locally regarded as a talisman
or palladium against famine and cold. But the great beast tells
no tale, and until a really scientific attempt with pick and shovel
be made at Hamadan we can but imitate its silence . 2
Before I quit the subject of the western provinces of Persia,
let me revert once more to the boundary with Turkey, in order to
say that, ill-defined or dubiously recognised as I have
described the frontier of Persia as being on the east, any
uncertainty existing in that quarter is as nothing com
pared with the lack of exact delimitation that prevails here.
Nearly half a century ago, in order to prevent an impending
collision between Persia and Turkey on the Kurdish border, Great
Britain and Russia secured the appointment of a Turco-Persian
1 Journal of the H. G. S., vol. x. p. 1 .
2 For accounts of Hamadan vide A. Dupre (1807), Voyage en Perse, vol. i.
cap. xxiii; J. P. Morier (1812), Second Journey, pp. 264-270; Sir H. Layard
(1840), Parly Adventures, vol. i. pp. 252-254, 269-278; J. P. Ferrier (1845),
Caravan Journeys, pp. 35-42 ; Mrs. Bishop (1890), Journeys in Persia, vol. a*
letter xxiii. The only Achsemenian remains found near Hamadan have been live
or six bases of columns, one of which, presenting an inscription with the name of
Artaxerxes II. or Mnemon, was on view in the Paris Exhibition in 1889 (vide
Ker Porter, Travels, vol. ii. p. 115; and Perrot and Chipiez, Histoire de VArt,
vol. v. pp. 501, 755-6) ; and, on another spot, two other bases of columns (Flandin
and Coste, vol. i. pi. 25).
Turco-
Persian
frontier
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 [406v] (815/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213846.0x000016> [accessed 4 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