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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [519r] (1050/1814)
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
65
and here, in the cradle of the native race, a succession of ambitious
soldiers of fortune, springing, as a rule, from a humble stock,
found it possible, in the early disorganisation and ultimate atrophy
of the unwieldy empire of the Khalifs, to carve, with their own
swords, the scarcely-disguised reality of an independent kingdom.
The first of these was Yakub bin Leith, of Seistan, founder of the
Sufari or Coppersmith dynasty, in the latter part of the ninth
century, whose earliest conquests were Herat, Kerman, and Fars.
In the reign of his brother and successor, the Khalifs recovered
their sway, but only to cede it a few years later to the Dilemi, or
Al-i-Buyah family, whose founder was a fisherman, and who,
nominally as viceroys of the Khalif, ruled with great authority
and splendour at Shiraz. Hext came the Seljuk invasion. A
Turkish general was appointed Governor of Fars, and managed
affairs so skilfully as to transmit that office to his son, who again
passed it on in like fashion, seven viceroys, whose rule extended
from 1066 to 1149 a.d., being thus derived from the same family.
Sunkur ibn Ntodud, a chieftain of the Furkoman tribe of Salghuns,
who had been moved by the Seijuks from Khorasan to Fars, threw
off the Seljuk yoke and proclaimed his own independence in
1149 a.d. It was during the reign of Abubekr, one of his suc
cessors, that Sadi, the poet, lived for thirty years at Shiraz, com
posed his ‘ Gulistan 7 and ‘ Bostan.’ and died. At this time Fars was
an extensive and powerful kingdom, seeing that it comprised Ker
man, Isfahan, the coast-line and islands of the Gulf, and even the
opposite or Arab shore. When Jenghiz Khan appeared upon the
scene, Abubekr was wise enough to proffer his allegiance to the
Mongol, who responded by confirming him in his office, a patron
age that was ratified a little later by the marriage of a Salghur
princess with the son of Hulaku Khan. Here, however, the in
dependent line of Atabegs terminated ; and Fars remained a Mongol
province until a fresh principality was created by one Mubariz-
ed-Din Mohammed, whose title, El Muzaffer, the Victorious, was
transferred to the dynasty of which he was the founder. It was
during the reign of the fifth prince of this family that Timur first
came to Shiraz (which prudently submitted to his arms), and there
enjoyed that friendly interview with the poet Hafiz, that reflected
equal credit upon the wit of the bard and the clemency of the
sovereign. This was in 1387. A few years later, however, Shah
Mansur, taking advantage of the Great Tartar’s absence, ventured
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 [519r] (1050/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213847.0x000033> [accessed 12 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