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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [581r] (1176/1814)
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
165
architectura purpose. No one now seems to deny-the sculpture,
indeed may be said to have proved it-that this was the Great Hall of
udience, the Imperial Talar or Throne Room, of the King of kin^s.
ere, upon a t rone and under a canopy, similar to those which we
a piesently observe depicted upon the graven doorways of the other
palaces, he sat m state to see and to be seen of his people. Up the
thevTh^’ tl ‘' 0Us . h tlle porticoes, and between the pillared aisles
-y ronge o c o him homage. Broad space and light, free range of
vision and movement, were required. Majesty was not called upon to
onceal Rs radiance, but rather to shine before all men. Nor is there
any difficulty m supplying the substitute for walls and doors, that may
nave been needed to check or tr» i ^
regulate the Ho-ht Tl • 0 facilitate ingress and egress,-and to
ulate the li D ht There is great continuity in the East. The clue to
, “ antiquity sometimes stares us in the face at our threshold •
^ la ™ 0r th , rone rooms o f the modern Persian kings, from’
Shah Abbas downwards, as I have described them at Teheran and
dLnkvs hi r ° yal audiencehalls > -h^e the monarch
f P y h ™ Se ‘ f t0 the assembled multitudes, and where the interior
of the apartment is veiled or shaded by the dexterous use of em-
lUustrR CUrtaiDS - Nay m ° re ’ if so modern an
lustration be regarded with suspicion, have we not, in a contemporary
mcument of the highest authenticity, a record of the precise system of
decoration to which I allude ? At Shushan or Susa, where was the
winter-palace of the same princes, whose more solid erections we are
ime examining, ‘in the court of the garden of the king’s palace were
ute, green and blue hangings, fastened with cords of fine linen and
purple to silver rings and pillars of marble." Without, therefore
accepting m full measure the restorations of either of the French’
artists before mentioned, and without peremptorily denying that walls
o some kind may have united the central hall with its lateral
co onnades I feel that a closer approximation to the truth is probably
to be found in their hypotheses than in those of the English authority
and that whatever this great fabric may have looked like when Xerxes’
held therein his glittering
durbars
A public or private audience held by a high-ranking British colonial representative (e.g. Viceroy, Governor-General, or member of the British royal family).
, it assuredly did not resemble in the
least degree the hypothetical reconstruction of Fergusson.
A similar process of reasoning, starting from the premise of what
actually is or was, rather than what might or ought to have been
Roof should, I think, be applied, both here and in the remaining
be a doubt r ePOl ii an P^ 68 ’ t0 th6 l uestion of ro °f s There cannot
thiso b ’ f 0n \ he hollowed centre of th e bicephalous capitals in
is -ase, no ess than from the incised mortise-joints in the angle-piers
some of the other structures, that they were made to receive an
1 Esther i. 5, 6.
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 [581r] (1176/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213847.0x0000b1> [accessed 6 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