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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [550r] (1112/1814)
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.
PEltSEPOLIS, AND OTHER RUINS
117
of Dr. M. Elaug, 1 although I believe that the latter has secured
the verdict of most scholars, I prefer the security of unshamed
ignorance.
It was from the ragged chapar-khaneh of Puzeh, as stated in the
last chapter, that I set forth to visit the combined Achaemenian and
turesTof*' Sassanian remains at the western extremity of the cliff wall,
Naksh-i- known as Husein Kuh, that bounds the valley of the Polvar
Rustam on the north, some three miles from Hajiabacl, and sinks
immediately beyond the sculptures into the broad plain of Mervclasht.
From the post-house they cannot be more than one mile and a quarter
distant in a straight line ; and, standing on the roof of the stables,
I could easily trace the three colossal cruciform cuttings im the rock
face that marked the site of three out of the four royal tombs, a small
black spot in the centre of each transverse limb indicating the violated
portal. Yet, though the distance is insignificant, so cut up is the
valley with gullies and water-courses that I was obliged to make a
detour of at least one mile further, and to approach the cliff from the
eastern side. At other seasons of the year the traveller is sometimes
conducted by a similar detour to the west. The entire extent of cliff
occupied by the tombs and bas-reliefs is less than two hundred yards
in length ; and the latter were executed by order of the Sassanian
sovereigns, on panels of the rock, purposely smoothed, below the
sepulchres of their illustrious predecessors, either on a level with the
soil, which is here very much in excess of its original height, or a
little above it. 2 Broadly speaking, the sculptures fall into two classes,
those of the early Sassanian period, of Ardeshir and of Shapur I., in
the middle of the third century a.d., and those of the middle Sassanian
period, about the time of Yarahran IY. and Y. at the end of the
fourth century and later. For the art of the later Sassanians, at the
beginning of the seventh century, we must refer to the grottoes of
Bisitun. It is only in the present century that the true historical
reference of the bas-reliefs of Yaksh-i-Rustam has been definitely
ascertained, although Persians can still be found in abundance who
decline to recognise in the crowned and bearded equestrian giant of
the portraits any other than their beloved Rustam—an error which
was even shared by the learned Yiebuhr little more than one hundred
years ago. Small wonder, then, that in the fifteenth century Barbaro
the Yenetian, all unconscious of the absurdity of his hypothesis, should
1 Essays on the Sacred Language of the Par sees.
2 The best accounts of Naksh-i-Rustam in modem times are those of J. P.
Morier (1809), First Journey, pp. 125-8; Sir W. Ouseley (1811), Travels, vol. ii.
p.293 et seq. ; Sir R. Ker Porter (1818), Travels, vol. ii. pp. 530-61; and the
works, containing plates, which are cited later on. More recent writers, such as
Ussher and Mounsey, have mainly copied their predecessors.
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 [550r] (1112/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213847.0x000071> [accessed 25 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