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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [575r] (1164/1814)
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.
PEKSEPOLIS, AND OTHER RUINS
157
is with the titles of Xerxes, and whose forms seem in fancy once more
to people the scene which they have revealed and illumined by their
writings to thousands of their fellow-countrymen, who may never have
lad the chance of setting foot on Persian soil themselves. It was with
no irritation therefore, but with keen interest, that I read here in large
characters the name of ‘Cap. John Malcolm/ Envoy Extraordinary,
Plem-Potentiary/ a.d. 1800, coupled with those of Captain William
Campbell, Captain J. Colebrooke, and G. Briggs ; 2 and, just below,
those of Sir Harford Jones, 3 Bart. k.c. 1809, James Morier, 4 H.
Willock, T. Sheridan, J. Sutherland; and, again, Captain John
Macdonald, 6 1808, 1810, and 1826. On the right hand wall I also
noticed the names of Stanley, 7 ‘New York Herald/ 1870 ; of
Gobineau ; 8 of C. Texier, 9 R. Labourdonnaye, and Ph. Laguiche, 1840 ;
of C. J. Rich, 10 A. Taylor, E. Sturmy, and I. Tod, 1821 ; of Malcolm's
second Mission in 1810, including among other names those of H.
Ellis, 11 Lieutenant Monteith, 12 Lieutenant Lindsay, 13 and Lieutenant
Pottinger ; of S. Manesty, British Envoy in 1804, with his retinue.
The earliest recorded date that I noticed was 1704. 15 To the in
tervening period belong Carsten Niebuhr, 16 1765, and W. Franklin
1787.
Beyond the entrance gateway and the first pair of colossi, there
still stand two out of four lofty fluted columns, with the composite or
Central triple Persepolitan capital, that is also found in the Hall of
Xerxes, in the Hall of a Hundred Columns, and in the hall
of Artaxerxes Mnemon at Susa. These four pillars, the survivors of
which are forty-six and three-quarters feet high, originally supported the
roof of a central hall or court, eighty-two feet square. The left hand
column is composed of three blocks ; but its flutings, which are thirty-
nine in number, do not exactly correspond, the drums having evidently
been shifted from their position by earthquake. The second right-hand
1 Sir John Malcolm, the historian of Persia and Governor of Bombay.
2 The translator of Ferishta. 3 Afterwards Sir Harford Jones Brydges.
4 The
writer
The lowest of the four classes into which East India Company civil servants were divided. A Writer’s duties originally consisted mostly of copying documents and book-keeping.
so frequently mentioned, also author of Haji Balm, and charge
d'affaires at Teheran. 5 Afterwards Sir H. Willock, charge d'affaires at Teheran.
6 Afterwards Sir J. Macdonald Kinneir, minister at Teheran and author of
Geographical Memoir of Persia. 7 H. M. Stanley, the African explorer, who
came to Persia as a newspaper correspondent. 8 Comte J. de Gobineau,
French minister at Teheran and author of Trois Ans en Asie. 9 The author,
so frequently cited, of Description de VArmenie, &c. 10 British Resident at
Baghdad, and traveller in Kurdistan, who died at Shiraz in 1821. 11 Afterwards
Sir H. Ellis, British envoy to Persia. 12 Afterwards General Sir W. Monteith.
13 Afterwards Sir H. Lindsay-Bethune. 14 The explorer of Beluchistan, after
wards Sir H. Pottinger. 15 Morier says that he saw here Mandelslo’s name
(1638) and Le Brun’s (1704). I did not myself notice them. 16 The Arabian
traveller, frequently quoted.
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 [575r] (1164/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213847.0x0000a5> [accessed 23 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