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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [570r] (1154/1814)
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
151
Setting forth from Puzeh for Persepolis, I turned the corner of the
cliff, passed the sculptured recess of Naksh-i-Rejeb, already described,
and, keeping my face to the south, and the rock, which be-
ppioaci Persepolis is called Kuh-i-Rahmet or Mountain of
Mercy (formerly known as Shah Kuh) on the left hand, came in sight,
in about twenty minutes, of the great platform, standing boldly out
from the mountain-base, and supporting on its surface the ruined
piers and pillars that illustrations had rendered so familiar to my
gaze. This is the northern approach to the platform ; and here an
outcrop of rock juts up at the north-west corner almost to the level
of its summit, so that one can reach the latter without recourse to the
great stairs. The latter are at a distance of seventy yards beyond the
north-west angle, and are built in a recess of the main face of the
platform, which fronts the breadth of the Mervdasht plain with a
westerly outlook. Remembering the famous boast that the staircase
was of so gentle a slope that horsemen might ride up and down, I
rounded the angle of the platform, rode up the ruined steps, and dis
mounted on the summit immediately before the bull-flanked Propylsea
of Xerxes.
The substructure of Persepolis consists of a great platform, or
three sides of a parallelogram built out from the mountain-base, whose
lower slopes have been pared down and levelled to suit the
architectural purpose, and have then been built up and faced
with gigantic blocks of stone, constituting a perpendicular wall that
rises to a height varying from twenty to nearly fifty feet above the
plain. Its axis, strictly speaking, is inclined from north-west to south
east ; but for simplicity’s sake I shall speak of it as north by south.
Its main length is, in this direction, 1,523 feet; its breadth from east
to west is 920 feet. The original rock is in many places visible on the
surface, and its inequalities in the main account both for the capricious
ness of outline, and for the different terraces or levels upon which the
various structures were raised. One staircase, indeed, on the plat
form is hewn out of the mother-rock, and a cistern is similarly hollowed
in it. Great irregularity, but withal well-conceived structural relief,
is lent to the external appearance of the platform by the numerous
bays and angles into which, least on the main front, but chiefly on the
north side, the wall is broken. Of great blocks of stone, sometimes
laid horizontally, but more commonly of polygonal shape, is this com
posed. They are beautifully fitted and adjusted, without mortar or
cement, although originally held together on their upper surface by
iron cramps soldered into double dovetails with lead. Some of these
great stones have been measured as much as fifty feet in length by
six to ten feet in width. Originally a cornice and parapet ran round
the edge of the platform, and lent it a decorative appearance from the
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 [570r] (1154/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213847.0x00009b> [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