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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [558r] (1128/1814)
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.
PERSEPOLIS, AND OTHER RUINS 131
It is amusing enough, in the light of ascertained knowledge, to look
back upon the conjectural labours of others who have toiled in dark-
Thecunei- ness - That, however, should not diminish our gratitude to
form alpha- those who, like Chardin, Kaempfer and Le Brun, at the end
of the seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth centuries
first essayed on a considerable scale the work of transcription and
illustration of the Achaemenian monuments ; 1 to Niebuhr whose
scholarly industry dignified the middle of the latter century’- or to
those who, like Rich, Ouseley, and Ker Porter, early in the nineteenth,
brought back to Europe more careful drawings and reproductions than
had hitherto been procurable, to assist the labours of the students
whose keen intellects were already trembling on the brink of a momen
tous discovery. This was no less than the decipherment of the cunei
form alphabet. There is no need here to repeat the tale, which is as
romantic as it is remarkable. It is sufficient to recall the facts that
first m Germany Professor Grotefend, seconded at Paris by M. Burnouf,
and at Bonn by Professor Lassen ; and, independently of these, Major'
now Sir Henry, Rawlinson, in Persia itself, step by step, by patient
analysis and happy intuition, were creating out of the symbols that had
puzzled generations of inquirers, first an alphabet, and then out of this
alphabet a language. Successively the riddles of the great rock of
Bisitun, the chiselled epigraphs of Persepolis, and the inscriptions of
Naksh-i-Rustam, were flashed upon the world, and beyond possibility
of doubt men could now read the handwriting and know of a surety
that they were contemplating the handiwork of Darius. In the light
of these astonishing discoveries, theory was compelled to shift its
ground, and, unable to question the origin, turned with avidity to the
discussion of the purport of these more than ever interesting ruins.
With this exercise it still shows no sign of becoming exhausted.
Simultaneously with these discoveries, the enlightened liberality
of the French Government was responsible for presenting to scholars
Improved ail< ^ students the means of prosecuting or verifying their
illustra- labours by the publication of the splendid engravings suc
cessively of Texier, and of Flandin and Coste. Though
o ^
viewed alongside of photographic representations, their work, and
particularly that of Texier, is seen to be sometimes quite fanciful, and
frequently incorrect, yet too much praise cannot be bestowed upon the
painstaking industry with which these artists toiled in a country where
those only who have travelled in it can estimate the ceaseless obstacles
1 Several of the seventeenth-century travellers who contemplated book-making
on a large scale took a-itists with them to X^ersia to make the requisite drawings.
Pietro della Valle and Kaempfer both did so. Herbert got his illustrations drawn
subsequently at home, with portentous results in the case of Persepolis. So did
Struys.
k 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 [558r] (1128/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213847.0x000081> [accessed 2 April 2025]
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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