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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [521r] (1054/1814)
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.
a«£~a»
FROM ISFAHAN TO SHIRAZ
67
ain not aware that any traveller has either traced or surveyed its
course; and I would recommend to some future explorer a march
across the desert, by this track, to Yezd.
Eight in the middle of this strange ditch, which was the old
boundary between Fars and Irak, is a long, narrow hump of rock,
Exterior ^ r0m yards in length, severed from the ravine
walls on either side, and standing absolutely isolated in
the gully bottom. Upon the summit of this rock have been built
tiers of cottages, not unlike the man-roost of Lasgird, which I
have described in my ride from Meshed to Teheran, to a height of
perhaps 120 to 150 feet from the valley bottom ; and it was the
topmost storey of these edifices, peering above the level of the
plain, that had looked, on my approach, like a Persian village of
the familial squat elevation. I own I should never myself have
detected any analogy in the rock of Yezdikhast to the hanging-
gardens of Babylon; but the matter presented itself in a different
light two centuries ago to the vision of the excellent Dr. Fryer,
Here, at Esduchos, was truly verified what might be Fabulously
delivered of Semiramis’s Pendulous Gardens and Summer Houses, there
being Tenements made over this Moat out of the ancient Fortifications,
barring the Persian Incroachments on their Confines, whose Mouldring
Sands have left the jetting Rocks the bare supporters of these hanmn^
Buildings. & *
Entrance to the village is gained at one spot only, on the south
west (Binning erroneously says north-east) side, by a bridge of
Interior wo ° den rafters thrown across the ravine and leading to
a single low doorway pierced in the rock. When this
drawbridge is removed or destroyed the place is quite inaccessible,
and its inhabitants can laugh at marauding Bakhtiari or sokliers
demanding a billet, or tax-collectors unduly extortionate. I entered
on foot and made my way down the main street, which is more like
a tunnel than a road, inasmuch as the greater part of it is under
ground or has been so completely built over as to form a veritable
subterranean alley. Small vaulted passages diverge from this, and
flights of steps lead up to the higher cottages, which have rude
projecting balconies with wooden palings on the exterior. From
any one of these a fall would mean certain death. I entered with
out hindrance a decrepit mosque, which is said to be the imamzadeh
of Seyid Ali, son of the Imam Musa, who is reported to have
F 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
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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [521r] (1054/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213847.0x000037> [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