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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [499av] (1011/1814)
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.
38
PERSIA
doubt very lovely in spring-time and summer, but at any other
season of the year it has an unkempt and bedraggled appearance.
Tavernier very truly remarked of the royal gardens of Isfahan,,
even at the zenith of their splendour, that
You must not imagine that these gardens are so curiously set out
nor so well kept as ours in Europe. For they have no such lovely
borders, nor such close walks of honeysuckles and jasmin as are to be
seen in the Gardens of Europe. They suffer the grass to grow in many
places j contented only with a good many great Fruit Trees, tufted atop,,
and planted in a line, which is all the grace of the Gaidens of Persia.
From the palace I now pass to the Great Avenue, already men
tioned, that conducts from the centre of the city for a distance of
Chehar 1,350 yards to the Bridge of Ali Verdi Khan. Its.
Ba gh name, the Chehar Bagh, or Four Gardens, is not derived
from the gardens that open out of it, but recalls the fact that the
site was originally occupied by four vineyards which Shah Abbas
rented at 9,000 francs a year and converted into a splendid ap
proach to his capital. Of all the sights of Isfahan, this in its
present state is the most pathetic in the utter and pitiless decay of
its beauty. Let me indicate what it was and what it is. At the
upper extremity, a two-storeyed pavilion, connected by a corridor
with the Seraglio of the palace, so as to enable the ladies of the
harem to gaze unobserved upon the merry scene below, looked out
upon the centre of the avenue. Water, conducted in stone channels,
ran down the centre, falling in miniature cascades from terrace to
terrace, and was occasionally collected in great square or octagonal
basins, where cross roads cut the avenue. On either side of the
central channel was a row of chenars and a paved pathway for
pedestrians. Then occurred a succession of open parterres, usually
planted or sown. Next on either side was a second row of cliena/rs y
between which and the flanking walls was a raised causeway for
horsemen. The total breadth is now 52 yards. At intervals corre
sponding with the successive terraces and basins, arched doorways
with recessed open chambers overhead conducted through these
walls into the various royal or noble gardens that stretched on
either side, and were known as the Gardens of the Throne, Night
ingale, Vines, Mulberries, Dervishes, &c. Some of these pavilions
were places of public resort and were used as coffee-houses, where,
when the business of the day was over, the good burghers of
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 [499av] (1011/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213847.0x00000c> [accessed 2 April 2025]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- Mss Eur F111/33
- Title
- Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Questionby George Curzon, with Inserted Papers
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 4r:4v, 31r:32v, 433r:433v, 463r:463v, back-i, front-a, back-a, spine-a, edge-a, head-a, tail-a, front-a-i, 499ar:499av, 562ar:562av, 617ar:617av, 694r:694v, 710r:710v, back-a-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence