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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [590v] (1195/1814)
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
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PERSIA
porch, or Propyl^a, leading thereto. In the earlier part of the century
these ruins were in a more recognisable shape than now , and north
again> of them stood an enormous isolated column. My
Propylaea ^ photograp h s record only a few dilapidated blocks
of stone, retaining however the unmistakable disposition of a gatevay
and on one side the form of what was once a bull. Elandin in
ferred from the apparently unfinished workmanship of some of these
fragments, that the porch to which they belonged was never completed,
and may have been a later addition to the original design. Such a
condition, however, if true, need not necessarily postulate a later origin
in the East, where, as I have frequently remarked, to leave the edifices
of a predecessor either incomplete or a prey to ruin, is no uncommon
manifestation of the vftpis of royalty.
A far more interesting question, however, than the date or the ob
ject of this building, is raised by its remains. Whereas none of the
earlier travellers found in any of the edifices on the platform
burned by the least traces of destruction by fire, and were therefore
Alex- ^ puzzled how to reconcile with the visible ruins the story,
attested by a consensus of ancient historians, 1 of the confla
gration of one or more of the Persepolitan palaces by Alexander, more
recent discoveries have acquainted us with the fact that the Hall of
a Hundred Columns contains precisely the evidence of which we stand
in need. 2 On the soil above the pavement was found, in the excavations
of thirteen years ago, a thick layer of ashes, proved by microscopic
analysis to be carbonised cedar, of which not a vestige has been brought
to light in any other of the palaces. 3 It is probable, therefore,
that these are the remains of the cedar roof, which crumbled into
ashes just where it fell, carrying down with it the columns and supports
that had previously sustained its splendour. It is not the least among
the fascinations of the site that we can—without positive certainty it
Diodorus Siculus, lib. xvii.; Strabo, lib. xv.; Q. Curtius, lib. v. c. 7; Plutarch’s
Vita Alexandra ; Clitarchus in Athenams, lib. xiii. ; Arrian, lib. iii. c. 18.
Q. Curtius is responsible for the statement that the palace set on fire was largely
composed of cedar.
2 It was with an unconscious prescience, therefore, that Ouseley wrote
(Travels, vol. ii. p. 281) : c From the very durable nature of charcoal, we might,
perhaps, reasonably hope to discover fragments of carbonised cedar.’
3 Texier and Stolze, however, have both opined that the stones in the Palace
of Xerxes show traces of having been sundered by violent heat. Madame Dieu-
lafoy (La Perse, p. 407) says : ‘ Seated in the doorway of the Hall of Xerxes, I
reread Plutarch’s account of the burning of Persepolis by Alexander, and was
compelled, in presence of these calcined stones, these columns reddened by the
flames, these debris of carbonised timbers, to accept the version of the Greek his
torian.’ This I believe to be fancy. No one else, so far as I know, has observed
any of these things in the Hall of Xerxes.
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 [590v] (1195/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213847.0x0000c4> [accessed 5 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