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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [592v] (1199/1814)
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.
184
PERSIA
conducting into the tomb . 1 Of this the lower part has been forcibly
broken away , 2 and we can now enter without difficulty. Passing into a
chamber or vestibule with arched vault, hewn out of .the live rock, we
encounter at a distance of nine feet from the door a wall, four feet
high, also in the solid rock, constituting the front of the first of two
cavities or sarcophagi, excavated one behind the other in a recess. A
partition, one foot in width, separates the pair; and the furthest
extends to within three feet of the end of the cutting . 3 They are
four feet in depth, nine and one-third feet long, and four feet broad,
and their broken lids, which formerly were arched at the top, lie across
the openings . 4
At a distance of three hundred yards to the south is the second rock
Middle tomb. It differs only from its predecessor in containing three
tomb arched niches or recesses at the back of the main vestibule,
each containing a rifled cavity or sarcophagus . 5 ^
The most southerly tomb, at some distance from the others, was
first noticed by Niebuhr in 1765. Its lower part is hewn out of the
South rock in the familiar fashion, but its upper portion is built
tomb U p wiph l ar g e rectangular stones to supply the superior limb
of the cross. Nor was this tomb ever finished, as the state of the
sculptures sufficiently shows. The king, and Ormuzd, and the fire-
altar, and the terrace, are there ; but immediately below the cornice of
1 The lower limb of the cross does not, therefore, exist in this case, being built
up by the polygonal wall.
2 Chardin declared that the door was always a sham door forming part of the
natural rock, and thought that the real entry to the tomb must have been gained
by a subterranean passage. There is no evidence in support of this, and analogy
is against it.
3 Flandin, both in his text and plates (vol. iii. pis. 161-6), has committed the
curious error of representing only one sarcophagus, in this tomb.
4 Near this tomb Herbert, in 1627, described as being ‘ sculptured the Image of
their grand Pagotha, a Dgemon of as uncouth and ugly a Shape as well could be
imagined; and if reverenced by those wretches, sure it was not in love, but rather
with a Ne noceat, base fear too often drawing dastardly spirits into vile subjec
tion. It is of a gigantish size or magnitude, standing as upright as his deformed
posture will admit, discovering a most dreadful visage twixt man and beast.’ No
one has ever been able to make out what this horrible and purely imaginary
monster (which Herbert’s London artist introduced in fine style into his drawing)
can have been. I fancy that the excellent knight must have carried away an
indistinct recollection of the nondescript creatures with whom the king is so often
represented in combat on the doorways, and must finally have written his account
at home.
5 I am puzzled by the interior of this tomb, upon wTfich my own notes and
recollections do not enlighten me. Ouseley, Johnson, Rich, Binning, and Ussher,
all of whom entered it, concur in the above description. Flandin and Coste,
however (vol. iv. pis. 163-1), depict it as containing six tombs instead of three.
I think they are again wrong.
! fV •
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 [592v] (1199/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213847.0x0000c8> [accessed 4 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