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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [518r] (1048/1814)
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.
FROM ISFAHAN TO SHIRAZ
63
Rave always been kept a number of sacred fish. Two centuries
ago the sanctity of these creatures was indicated, as Chardin and
Dr. Fryer acquaint us, by c their Noses and Finns being hung with
Gold Rings; besides these here were Ducks devoted to as foppish
a Maintenance.’ The declining fervour or the more practical
temper of modern times may be variously held accountabje for the
disappearance of these evidences of distinction, but the fish still
remain. The tomb of the saint reposes behind a brass trellis or
grating beneath the blue-tiled dome.
On the further side of Kumisheh extends a level plain, fringed
by mountains on the left or eastern side, which was the scene of
Battle-field a fought in 1835 between the army of Mohammed
Shah, commanded by Sir H. Lindsay-Bethune, and the
combined forces of two of his uncles, the
Firman
A Persian word meaning a royal order or decree issued by a sovereign, used notably in the Ottoman Empire (sometimes written ‘phirmaund’).
Firma (previously
Governor-General of Fars) and his brother, Hasan Ali Mirza (the
Shuja-es-SuItaneh), who, upon the death of old Fath Ali Shah,
combined to dispute the succession of their nephew to the throne.
The royal forces consisted only of two regiments of regular infantry,
some cavalry, and twenty guns—less than 4,000 men in all. The
pretenders had a much larger army, but were deficient in artillery,
in which Lindsay (or Linji, as the Persians called him) had a de
cided advantage. A mist separated the two forces, who are said
to have been unaware of each other’s propinquity until the Arme
nian wife of Colonel Shee, serving in the Shah’s army, heard a
shot fired in the opposite camp. Bethune then took the enemy by
surprise, and aided by his guns, w r hich battered down the walls of
a deserted village in which they had stationed themselves, soon put
them to flight. Marching rapidly upon Shiraz, he there took
prisoner the two claimants and sent them captive to Teheran. The
rebellion was thus crushed at the outset.
Several villages are passed in the hollow of the plain on the
right hand, and eventually the hamlet of Kishara is reached lying
Maksud i n a depression at a little distance off the road. Here is
Beggl a village and the chajpar-'khaneli, but the stage takes its
name from the walled village of Maksud Beggi (a little further on
and nearer the eastern valley-wall), which itself, according to
Chardin, was named from ‘ the late Lord Steward of Persia,’ to
whom it owed its elevation. On the next stage to Yezdikhast, a
distance of twenty-five miles, I only passed one place on the way.
This was Aminabad, the Abode of Trust or Safety, originally erected
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 [518r] (1048/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213847.0x000031> [accessed 13 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