Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [522r] (1056/1814)
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.
FflOM ISFAHAN TO SHIRAZ
69
recommended to the stranger, seeing that (unless a deviation be
made) it misses both Pasargadas and Persepolis.
Nothing of interest marked my ride over a desolate, gravelly
plain, bounded by high hills on the right, to Shulgistan. There
are a mined
caravanserai
A roadside inn providing accommodation for caravans (groups of travellers).
of Shah Abbas, and a dirtv
Abaden . . . . J
imamzadeh with a green-tiled cupola, covering the re
mains of Mohammed, a son of the Imam Zein-el-Abidin. A
similar stage conducts to Abadeh, a large walled village, sur
rounded by numerous gardens, well-watered, and planted with
trees. Having galloped on in front of the post-boy, I tried to find
my own way to the Telegraph-office by following the wires, but got
involved in the stuffy alleys and amid the blank mud-walls of the
town. At the time of my visit Abadeh was temporarily celebrated
for two young panthers, which had been brought up as pets by the
officer of the Telegraph Department stationed there, and which
roamed about his house and garden at their own sweet will;
although having reached a period of adolescence they were rapidly
becoming rather ugly customers. The place has a more abiding
fame for the beautifully-carved kashuks, or sherbet-spoons, and
boxes, which are made from gulabi, or pear-wood, and shimshad,
or boxwood, in the neighbouring villages. The former, though
wrought by simple peasants, are veritable works of art; the bowls
of the spoons being hollowed out from a single piece of wood till
they are almost as thin as paper, and quite transparent; while the
handles are models of fragile and delicate filagree-work. The
carvings for the box covers and sides are worked on thin slips,
which are then glued on to a rustic box.
Continuous villages and evidences of cultivation border on the
road, which continues in a south-east direction, from Abadeh to
^ , the next post-station of Surmek, whence a well-known
Dehbid x . 7
caravan route diverges via Abarguh to Yezd. For
several miles after leaving Surmek, we proceed along the flat, and
then commence a steady rise till the sixteenth mile, where a
deviation from the track, along the line of the telegraph jijoles
more to the left, may be recommended to the traveller as saving
him from a needless detour. The ascent continues by easy inclines
to Khan-i-Khoreh, which is merely a post-house and a
caravanserai
A roadside inn providing accommodation for caravans (groups of travellers).
R. K. Porter (1818), Travels, vol. ii. pp. 1-26 ; J. B. Fraser (1821), Journey into
Khorasan, cap. vi.; and A. H. Monnsey (1866), Journey through the Caucasus,
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 [522r] (1056/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213847.0x000039> [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
![Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎522r] (1056/1814) Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎522r] (1056/1814)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/Mss Eur F111_33_1070.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg)