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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [540r] (1092/1814)
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.
FKOM ISFAHAN TO SHIRAZ
99
interests of tire latter are officially represented in the city by the
ISTawab Haider Ali Khan, a member of a distinguished family once
prominent in the Deccan, but for many years resident in Persia.
One face of the palace fronts the principal Meidan, which is a
desolate expanse containing a number of guns. 1 On its northern
Old Palace Sl( ^ e 18 a ^ building, now occupied by the Indo-European
and Persian Telegraph establishments, but formerly the
diwan-khaneh, or audience-chamber, of the palace of Kerim Khan.
An arched gateway opens from the square on to a fine garden,
containing a hauz or tank, at whose upper end, on a platform, the
face of which is adorned with sculptured bas-reliefs in marble,
is the laige iccessed chamber, now filled with official bureaux
and counters, that once held the twisted marble columns and
the Takht-i-Marmor, or Marble Throne, previously described as
standing in the talar or throne-room at Teheran, whither they
were removed a hundred years ago by Agha Mohammed.
From the Meidan, access is gained to the Bazaar-i-Vekil,
or Regent’s Bazaar, an enduring monument of the public-
Bazaar spirited rule of Kerim Khan. This bazaar, which is the
and trade finest i n Persia, consists of a covered avenue, built of
yellow burnt bricks, and arched at the top, about five hundred
yards in total length. It is crossed by a shorter transept, 120
yards long, a rotunda or circular domed place marking the point
of intersection, where are a cistern and a platform above it, at
which the merchants meet for talk or consultation. From the
bazaar, gateways lead into extensive caravanserais, the most
spacious of which appeared to be that occupied by the Persian
Custom-house. In the Bazaar-i-Vekil were all the din and jabber,
the crush and jostle, of an Eastern mart, which is the focus
of city life in the daytime, and is apt to give to a stranger an
exaggerated impression of the volume of business. In the in
creased activity, however, of the southern trade-routes in Persia
m recent years, Shiraz, both as a consuming and as an export
market, has borne its share. An immense trade in all European
goods has sprung up with Bombay, most of the Persian merchants
having agents in that city. The chief imports are cotton fabrics
from Manchester; woollen tissues from Austria and Germany;
loaf sugar from Marseilles (Russian loaf sugar stopping short at
1 There were reported to me to be only 1,800 infantry and 300 artillery in the
province.
h 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 [540r] (1092/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213847.0x00005d> [accessed 7 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