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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [577v] (1169/1814)
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.
*
160
PERSIA
lower level upon which stand the Propyhea. Access is gained to its
summit by four flights of steps, two of which, projecting fiom the
platform, converge towards a landing in its centre , the remaining two
ascend the platform from either extremity, north and south. Each
flight contains thirty-one steps, which are fifteen and a half feet long,
fourteen inches broad, and four inches deep. A/V hen we i ecognise, as
we shall, that the building to which they conducted was the audience-
hall of the Great King, the object of these four stairways to admit of
the free coming and going of the vast crowds that thronged thither to
do him homage, is at once apparent ; and we may admire both the
ingenuity and the practical wisdom of the architect.
The front wall of the projecting central landing that is formed by
the converging slope of the middle stairways, contains sculptures of a
size and character that both dominate and set a tone to the
Sculptures remainder jn the centre is an oblong panel, designed to
receive an epigraph which has never been inscribed—one among many
indications that even the older buildings on the platform were never
finished, and that the Achaunenian kings, like their more modern
successors, were either too vain or too indolent to complete the designs
of their predecessors. On the right side three armed guards, with
spears and shields, on the left side four similar spearmen with qui\ers,
face towards the empty panel. In the triangular space behind each of
these groups, that is formed by the base angle of the flights of steps,
is sculped on the wall a rearing bull, with a lion whose claws and teeth
are fixed into its hinder flank. This is a subject so frequently le-
produced in similar compartments on the stairways of Persepolis, as
to deserve a passing note of examination. Some high authorities have
discovered therein a subtle allegorical meaning. Layard, for instance,
,1 x ^ linn rwpr the bull tvpifies the triumph
of the sun, or principle of heat, over water, or the element of moisture.
^ . n i xi rYwvnnrl for irlontifvins the bull with the
inks that the victory of the lion over the bull typifies the triumph
the sun or principle of heat, over water, or the element of moisture.
\ ^wvnnrl for irlontifvins the bull with the
destructive power tm
adorned with the scu
adversary is hardly lil
the combat is merely
> power the answer to which, of course, is that on palaces
ith the sculptured praises of Ormuzd, the victory of his
is hardly likely to have been pourtrayed. More probably
t i s merely a symbolical representation of the conflict, so
depicted in other forms on the neighbouring walls, between
i ~ 4- rf-r-vnEr* Vnc T»r*T7’Q 1 I lift
. the answer to which, of course, is that on
tti
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 [577v] (1169/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213847.0x0000aa> [accessed 10 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