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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [595r] (1204/1814)
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
OTIIEl
t
HUIX8
] 8 £>
Shah Sefi I., disgusted at the number of studious Europeans who visited
Persepohs and for whose entertainment he was required to provide
despatched a party of sixty men with orders to destroy every sculpture
upon which they could lay hands. Nor do I feel altogether happy-
for the credit of these self-same Europeans-when I read in the pages
of Le Brunthat he took a mason from Shiraz, and blunted all his
too s in the effort to break off and carry away desirable fragments,
and that he confesses to having shattered several figures in pieces.
Perhaps we may seek relief from such remorse in the fact that on the
1,200 sculptured figures, reported by that traveller to have existed in
his day, only a small impression ever has been or can be produced by
these petty depredations. A thousand years hence our descendants
will still find ample cause both for pilgrimage and for marvel in the
monuments of Persepolis.
Though this is not a treatise on art, and though I do not profess to
be an art critic, I yet feel justified in making a few observations in
Artistic conclusion upon the artistic features and merits of the Perse-
(Titicism politan ruins, having at least examined them carefully on the
spot, in the comparative light that is thrown upon them by other
ancient Asiatic styles of architecture which I have also inspected in
s'ltu credentials that I have been astonished to find are advanced by
but few of those who, from the serene solitude of their studies, have
pronounced urbi et orbi upon the nature and origin of Achfemenian
architecture. And yet our authorities do not always agree, for whilst
I read in the pages of one that this art was mimetic and nothing else , 1
I am informed by another that ‘ in its main and best features it was
so far as we can tell, original.’ 2 I shall argue that the truth lies, as
it commonly does, between these extremes ; but in this case very much
nearer to the former than to the latter.
The first and most obligatory step is to correlate this Aclnemenian
art with the times and circumstances in which it was produced, and to
History a see i n what respects the page of history may provide us with
clue to art a clue. Essentially it was an art—so far as we can trace it
of sudden birth, of brief-lived span, and of abrupt and premature
decay. It was comprised within a maximum period of about 200
years, starting into being with the union of the kingdoms of Anzan,
Persia, and Media into a single empire by the Great Cyrus, and perish
ing beneath the assault of Alexander. Its existence, in fact, was
synchronous with that of the dynasty who fostered or created it, and
after expressing and immortalising their triumphs, it shared the swift
1 Z. A. Ragozin, Media (Story of the Nations), p. 303 : ‘ Persian Art was from
first to last, and in its very essence, imitative, with the single exception of the
Aryan principle of building, consisting in the profuse use of columns.’
Canon Rawlinson, Fifth Great Oriental Monarchy, p. 307.
t ,
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 [595r] (1204/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213848.0x000005> [accessed 13 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