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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [479r] (968/1814)
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.
FBOM TEHERAN TO ISFAHAN
7
taiy prominence are to be seen the conical tiled roofs of scores of
imamzadehs erected over the remains of famous saints and prophets,
whose bones have been transported hither and laid to rest in the
consecrated dust of Kum. There were formerly said to be over
400 of these structures in and around the city. Some of them
are in good repair, and contain beautiful panels or lintel-bands of
tiles with Kufic inscriptions from the Koran. Others are in a state
of shocking ruin, the blue tiles having peeled off their cupolas,
upon whose summits repose enormous storks’ nests. The landscape
is framed on the south by a range of hills of splintered outline and
peculiar sterility, whose forbidding aspect is in harmony with the
traditional and fanatical superstition of the holy city. 1
The approach to the town lies through richly-cultivated fields ;
and at the very end of the road, which supplies a vista thereto,
flashes the holy Fatima’s dome. Immediately outside the
gates flows, in the direction of the new lake, the Rud-
i-Anarbar, which is crossed by a substantial bridge of nine
arches. Some of the houses on the further bank have two
storeys, with windows and balconies overlooking the stream—a
more advanced degree of exterior embellishment than is usually
attained by Persian domiciles. The remainder of the city,
viewed from the outside, consists of a multitude of squat clay
domes, the roof of nearly every building being shaped into half a
dozen or a dozen of these protuberances. I traversed the entire
length of the bazaar on my way to the chapar-khaneh, which,
having recently been shifted, is now situated m a cai avansei ai
opening out of the bazaar. The latter is vaulted throughout, and
consists of one long alley, with a few parallel and transverse aisles.
The roadway is broad, the shops large and well-furnished, and the
jostle of human beings, camels, donkeys, horses, and cattle, v as
greater than I had yet seen m Persia. I subsequently letiaced
my footsteps to see as much of the mosque as is permissible to a
Christian and an unbeliever. Outside its encircling wall extends
a vast necropolis, adorned with thousands of stone slabs and
crumbling mounds. A conjurer had selected this incongruous
spot as his theatre, and was holding spell-bound a laige crowd. I
1 The name Kum is fancifully, but improbably, derived from Xu7i-i-mis, moun
tain of copper, a mineral which is undoubtedly found in the adjacent hills. Its
ancient name was Kumindan, or Kumidan, and it was one of seven villages which,
in the eighth century A.D., were formed into a town, and called Kum.
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 [479r] (968/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213846.0x0000a9> [accessed 2 April 2025]
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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