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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [606r] (1226/1814)
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.
FROM SHIRAZ TO BUSHIRE 205
a small aperture pierced in a blue earthenware plate, with which
the pipe was closed. The honey yielded is excellent.
Close by, at the back of a ruined enclosure, which was formerly
le couit of a i est-house built here for the accommodation of travellers,
Timur”*" ^ a bas-relief on the rock, one of those dege-
. nerate imitations of the Sassanian model in which the
vajar princes have loved to indulge. The hero depicted in this
case is Timm Mirza, one of- the Persian Princes who came as
refugees to London in 1837, after the unsuccessful rebellion of their
lather, Husem Ali Mirza, a son of Path Ali Shah and Governor-
General of Pars. This particular Timur was Governor of Kazerun •
and on this wall of rock he had himself depicted, with a tame lion
at his side, a pipe-bearer, some attendants, and a hawk. The
giires are more than life size, and were originally painted and
gi c ed. They are now almost obliterated, the dislike entertained
for the Kajar dynasty in the middle of the present century having
impel lea * f n ° mad trlbes > and ever y passing wayfarer in addition,
to inflict what defacement they could upon the likeness of the vain
glorious Timur. The spot is variously called Takht ('Throne! or
ISTaksh (Picture) -i-Timur . 1 '
At the foot of the hill the track crosses the end of the marsh
that borders the lake by a stone causeway called the Pul-i-Ab-
Kazerun f™* 1 ( Brid g e of Mirror), and strikes across the
level plain of Kazerun, a distance to the town of that
name of eight miles. In descending from Dasht-i-Arzen to Mian
Ivotal I had felt a very sensible difference in the temperature ; and
this was still further accentuated on descending to the level of
Kazerun, which was 3,700 feet lower than my resting-place of the
previous night. The air was warm and balmy ; and presently the
stately crown of date-palms, clustering in the distance, revealed a
spectacle very unlike anything I had so far seen in Persia, and
brought that country into immediate relation with the familiar
mise-en-scene of the East. Kazerun, though its best days are lono-
past, is a well-favoured spot, agreeable and healthy in climate, rich
in water, and famous both for its oranges and its mules. As most of
1 Would it be believed that the innocent A. Arnold speaks of this clumsy
bas-relief as ‘ some interesting ruins of Ancient Persia, where a monarch, heavily
bewigged with false hair, in the fashion of Ancient Persia, and as marvellously
bearded, is seated with a lion before him, his chair of state encircled by atten
dants.’ (Through Persia htj Carman, vol. ii. p. 186.) And this is how history is
written! ^
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 [606r] (1226/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213848.0x00001b> [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