![Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎517v] (1047/1814)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/Mss Eur F111_33_1061.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎517v] (1047/1814)")
Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [517v] (1047/1814)
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.
62
PERSIA
kind in Persia. I do not know that Mayar or its surroundings
possess any other interest, however faint, although the hills which
surround its valley awoke in the bosom of the susceptible Porter a
paroxysm of the most profound emotion .
I might have thought myself again amongst the most savage tracks
of the Caucasus, climbing the scarred ridges of a shattered, rocky world.
The whole seems as if the Titans had really been at war, and this the
scene of their tearing up the hills and pitching them against each other,
to fall, at any hazard, in the pell-mell heaps in which they stand.
If the transports of the worthy Baronet have never served any other
purpose, at least I have often been grateful to them for the relief
they have imparted to monotonous sections of my journey.
The road follows the valley, which is barren and without in
terest, to Kumisheh. A confused vision of big pigeon-towers; of
a tattered graveyard, to which a crowd was hurrying a
Kumisheh newly _ deceasec i corpse, with the strange mixture of irre
verence and mourning that characterises a Mussulman funeral; of
a tumble-down city with crumbled walls and mouldering towers;
and of a large blue dome surrounded by old chenars, and gleaming
fitfully through an opaque whirlwind of dust—still remains in my
memory as I think of Kumisheh. This place, which is the Komsu
of Della Valle and the Comicha of Chardin, was over three miles
in circuit in the latter’s time, though even then it had fallen greatly
from the epoch of its prime under the earlier Sefavi sovereigns.
Its present desolation is over a century and a half in age, having
been inflicted by tbe Afghans in their northward march against
Isfahan in 1722, a visitation from which the place has never re
covered. The blue dome covers the last resting-place of Shall
Reza, who is described by Chardin as a grandson of the Imam Reza,
but appears more probably to have been his brother and a son of
the Imam Musa el Kazim (the Forbearing). In the early part of
the century the Persian Shiahs were much less fanatical about the
entry of Christians into their mosques and sanctuaries than they
now are; and we have records of visits by former travellers to
shrines which are now only accessible at a certain risk. Bucking
ham, who, however, spoke the language and posed as a pilgrim to
the Moslem shrines, entered the Mosque of Kumisheh in 1816,
and described its interior. The inner court, around which are cells
for dervishes and pilgrims, contains two tanks, in one of which
1 Travels, vol. i. pp. 430-2.
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
Use and share this item
- Share this item
Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [517v] (1047/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213847.0x000030> [accessed 12 June 2026]
https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100157213847.0x000030
Copy and paste the code below into your web page where you would like to embed the image.
<meta charset="utf-8"><a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100157213847.0x000030">Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎517v] (1047/1814)</a> <a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100157213847.0x000030"> <img src="https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/Mss Eur F111_33_1061.jp2/full/!280,240/0/default.jpg" alt="" /> </a>
This record has a IIIF manifest available as follows. If you have a compatible viewer you can drag the icon to load it.https://www.qdl.qa/en/iiif/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/manifestOpen in Universal viewerOpen in Mirador viewerMore options for embedding images
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
- 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