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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [478r] (966/1814)
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.
FROM TEHERAN TO ISFAHAN
the Kara Cliai from Saveli, and the Kud-i-Anarbar (sometimes
miscalled Ab-i-Khonsar and Ab-i-Jerbadegan) from Kum, there
it is likely to remain.
But the Amin-es-Sultan, having successfully defeated the old
caravan-route, had yet to deal with the postal authorities and the
s Postal chajpar service ; and here a further disagreement between
road him and the Amin-ed-Dowleh, Minister of Posts, is said
to have been the reason for which a third road started into exist
ence, still more to the west, and at the time of my visit to
Persia, in 1889, was taken by the chajpar rider to Kum. This
was the track that I pursued . 1 Leaving Teheran by the Hamadan
Gate, it follows the main caravan-route to the west, to a little
beyond the village of Eobat Kerim, the single wire to Baghdad,
originally erected by English engineers, and afterwards handed
over to the Persian Government, taking the same direction.
At about sixteen miles from Teheran I crossed the slender
stream of the Karij, flowing in a deep fissure between high
banks, by a single-arched bridge. Eobat Kerim is a strag
gling village with a filthy ditch running down the main street.
Thence the road to Pik is as devoid of interest as it is wholly
destitute of life 5 although running as it does over a level
expanse, it is a welcome stage to the clmjpar rider. Low ranges
of hills enclose the plain on either side; and towards one of these
the track wends, plunging into a series of rolling hollows and un
dulations about four miles before reaching Pik. Demavend and
the Elburz range were always behind me, the one snow-robed, the
other snow-besprinkled 5 and with every quarter of an hour they
took on a different light, from pink to ashen grey, through all the
dwindling gradations of rose and saffron, as the afternoon died
down into dusk. At Pik I found a chajpar^hJiai/ich with two sepa
rate towers and bala-khanehs, one of which had the usual overplus
of open windows and flapping unshut doors. Trom there the track
cuts across the surrounding fields in an easterly direction, and
enters a low pass in the surrounding hills, down the further slope
of which runs a stream strongly impregnated with salt, on its way
to the new lake, which flashed before me in the morning sun, its
borders marked by a glittering fringe of saline scum. I may heie
1 It has since been superseded by a more direct route, starting from Teheran by
the old caravan-track via Kinaregird, and joining the carriage-road, the total
distance being charged as 24: farsakhs.
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 [478r] (966/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213846.0x0000a7> [accessed 25 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