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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [500v] (1013/1814)
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.
40
PERSIA
stalls, and thence into the main court of the madresseh, which
contains long basins filled with water, and is planted with flower
beds and overshadowed by trees. On the right-hand side opens
the mosque or prayer-chamber, flanked by two minarets and
crowned by a dome. In the centre of the remaining sides are
similar arched chambers. Two storeys of arched cells foi the
students extend all round, and the corners are cut oh by recessed
arches. But it is in the surface decoration of the walls that this
noble building still arrests and compels admiration. A wains
coting of the marble of Yezd runs round the base ; and above
this the archways and recesses, the lintels and facades, are covered
with magnificent tiles and panels of enamelled arabesque. It wgs
one of the stateliest ruins that I saw in Persia. I was informed
that though there are 1 60 chambers or cells, there were only 50
pupils, and that the vakf or endowment had seriously dwindled,
being for the most part appropriated by the Government.
Before I pass from Isfahan to the southern bank of the river
and to Julfa, I may mention a few other buildings of interest. Of
Musjid-i- these the most considerable is the Musjid-i-Jama, or
Jama Friday mosque, said to have been originally raised by
Abbas Khalif A1 Mansur, in 755 A.D. The successive restorations
of Malek Shah the Seljuk, of Shah Tahmasp, and of Abbas II.,
have deprived it of genuine artistic value, and it fell into the
second rank after the erection of the Musjid-i-Shah by Abbas the
Great. But it still retains titular pre-eminence as the Town
Mosque, though its minarets and quadrangle are in a state of
decay. There is also another and older meidan, entrance to which
is gained through the bazaars.
The bazaars of Isfahan are very fine, stretching for a great
distance on the north and east sides of the Meidan-i-Shah. Several
^ of them are unoccupied or but partially occupied; but
those where business still centres are, next to Kerim
Khan Zend’s bazaar at Shiraz, the finest in Asia. Ail the life ot
the city throbs in the daytime in their packed and clamorous
alleys; here is visible an ever-changing kaleidoscope of the
unchanged Orient; and the crush of men and beasts renders
locomotion slow and bewildering. From the main avenues open
out immense courts or caravanserais, piled high with bales of
merchandise ; and here the clank of weighing-machines, the jostle
of camels and mules, and the noise of human barter, are incessant.
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 [500v] (1013/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213847.0x00000e> [accessed 22 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