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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [536v] (1085/1814)
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.
94
PERSIA
expression that is supposed to leap to Ins lips as he gazes upon the
entrancing spectacle. I confess that my own gratitude to Provi
dence bore far less relation to the view, in which I saw nothing very
wonderful, than to the relief which I experienced at having reached
the end of this section of my journey. In the Sefavi^ days, an
aqueduct brought water into Shiraz down this pass, but is now m
complete ruin. In the rock on the right-hand side of the road
is sculped here a bas-relief of Path Ali Shah, smoking a Italian
with two of his sons ; and hard by is another of Rustam transfixing
a lion which holds a man in its claws. The end of this pass was
formerly fortified and completely filled by an arched gateway,
stretching from mountain to mountain. This gateway fell into
ruin but was rebuilt by Zeki Khan, who was Vizier of Shiraz, m
1820 in the style and manner apparent in the accompanying
photograph. In the upper storey, above the arch, is a chamber,
containing upon a desk surrounded by a wooden rail, a ponderous
and monumental Koran. This colossal manuscript, which is said to
weigh seventeen mans, or eight stone, and of which it is popularly
believed that if one leaf were withdrawn, it would equal m weight
the entire volume, is variously reported to have been written by
the younger Ali or Imam Zein-el-Abidin (Ornament of the I ious),
the son of Husein, or by Sultan Ibrahim, the son of. Shah Rukh,
and grandson of Timur. One may be reconciled to either legend,
according as one prefers a sacred or a secular authorship.
In the Sefavean days a species of Chehar Bagh, or broad
avenue, planted with cypresses, adorned with marble basins oi
water in the middle, and lined with rows of walled
Se dty gardens, entered by arched pavilions, led from the moun
tain gate to a bridge over the stream that flows outside the city
walls” Almost all traces of this approach have disappeared, and
the intervening stretch of road is bare and desolate. The stream
was all but dry at the time of my visit, though, when the snows
melt it sometimes contains a good deal of water.. The panorama
of the modern town contains nothing of distinction except three
blue domes appearing above a crumbling wall and numerous
enclosures thickly planted with cypresses, which seem, m them
sable stoles, to mourn like funeral mutes over a vanished past A
low wall of mud, flanked with semicircular towers—both of them
• state of ruin- describes a circumference of between three and
four miles, although in the security of modern times the suburbs
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 [536v] (1085/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213847.0x000056> [accessed 10 July 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