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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [519v] (1051/1814)
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.
66
PERSIA
upon rebellion. Timur knew no mercy. The Persian army was
routed, Mansur was slain, and all the princes of his house were
put to death After the break-up of the empire of the conqueror,
Ears fell successively into the hands of the Turkoman Black Sheep
and White Sheep Dynasties; from whom it passed with the rest
of Persia under the sway of Shah Ismail, the founder of the Sefavi
royal line; since which time it has remained an appanage of the
Persian crown. Few territories have ever succeeded in retaining
for so long a period, namely six centuries, the almost continuous
reality of an imperium in imperio ; an achievement largely due to
the mountainous barriers by which it is on all sides defended.
In every book upon Persia that I had studied, I had read of
Yezdikhast (explained by the old writers as a Pehlevi word,
signifying ‘ God willed it ’) as a village perched upon a
Yezdikhast remarkable rock in the centre of a deep valley. Great,
therefore, was my surprise, as I drew near the end of my stage,
to see what looked like a low line of houses, just emerging above
the level of the plain. This, I thought, could never be Yezdikhast,
and I must have alighted once more upon the elastic farsakh of
Khorasan. It was not till I was within 200 yards of the place
that I realised my mistake, or that the exact nature of the
phenomenon became visible. Yezdikhast is, truly enough, built
on the top of a remarkable rock, and this rock does stand in the
middle of a deep valley ; but the latter, so far from being a valley
in the ordinary application of the term, is a deep gash or trench
cut down to a depth of over 100 feet, without the slightest
warning, in the middle of the plain, the edge being as clearly
defined as Shakspeare’s Cliff at Dover. One is almost on the brink
of the gully before one is aware of its existence. At the bottom
flows a swift and dirty stream towards the east; and upon the
far side the plain resumes its normal level at the top of the fissure,
as though nothing had occurred to break its even expanse. Fraser
said the trench was 200 yards in width, Binning half mile. The
former is much nearer the mark, but is somewhat below it. This
extraordinary trench has exactly the appearance of the dried-up
bed of a great river; and there is a tradition, probably founded on
fact, that it was once so filled, and was navigable by boats. Fraser
said that a road to Yezd lies for three days in the hollow ; while
Chardin declared that the latter extended for twenty leagues,
seven to the east, and thirteen to the west of Yezdikhast. But I
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 [519v] (1051/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213847.0x000034> [accessed 5 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