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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [479v] (969/1814)
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.
8
PERSIA
rode up to the gateway of the big court of the mosque and, gazing
in, not without attracting a large concourse of the curious, could
see an immense quadrangle, with arched and tile-faced recesses all
round the walls, and a tank for ablutions in the centre. Fraser,
in 1821, entered the mosque in disguise, and visited the tomb-
chamber. A Dr. Bicknell, who had already been to Mecca, made
a similar entry in 1869, disguised as a Haji. Arnold, in 1875,
having entered the outer court, remembered that discretion is the
ettei pait of valom, and beat a retreat; while any less adventurous
laour must be content with what he can see through the open gate.
Kum is the site of the second most sacred shrine in Persia
and the Westminster Abbey of many of her kings. I have already
History s P oken of tlle solicitous regard for the welfare of his
. devotees that led the Imam Reza to scatter his relatives
while living, and their corpses when dead, throughout the country
that he loved so well. At Kum are deposited the remains of his
sister, Fatima-el-Masuma, i.e. the Immaculate, who, accordino- to
one account, lived and died here, having fled from Baghdad to
escape the persecution of the Khalifs; according to another
sickened and died at Kum, on her way to see her brother at Tus.'
He, for his part, is believed by the pious Shiahs to return the
compliment by paying her a visit every Friday from his shrine at
Meshed Kum appears to have existed from an earlier period
a though we maybe absolved from accepting the legendary Persian
foundation by Tahmuras or Kai Kobad. It was not, however till
uT!?? f v 116 illUStri ° US Patima ’ nor ’ that,
until the Shiah, faith had become the national religion, that the
town attained its reputation for especial sanctity. It was of
course, sacked by Timur, and has been in a state of greater or ’less
rum ever since. As the quaint Herbert phrased it, ‘ in the Sable
weed she is still apparelled ; for great Coom is now onely maani
naminis umbra.’ Nevertheless, under the patronage of the Sefavi
sovereigns, the city revived ; fine quays adorned the banks of the
river; extensive bazaars and handsome caravanserais received or
Kum has been described at greater or less length by a succession nf •
hrareo^Sir T^HTrbert'tHi^n e j°B re T Tlen ^ C ^ te< ^ t * lat ^ ne ®^ not rscapittilakethem
ar J. M Kmneir (1810), Sir W. Ouseley (1811), Sir K. Ker Porter (18181 I n
JSSSKS^ST' '• "•*” fm> - «•-* ■“ s "“ h
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 [479v] (969/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213846.0x0000aa> [accessed 17 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