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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [606v] (1227/1814)
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.
206
PEESIA
the muleteers also hail from this village, the traveller must he on
his guard against the most audacious pretexts, which are invariably
devised by his charvadar, as the latter nears his domestic hearth,
and thinks how far more agreeable would be an idle day in the
bosom of his family, than a march of thirty miles over the Metis
of the Tengistan (or country of tengs, defiles, as this region ^appro
priately termed). Kazerun is credited by patriotic Kazerunis with a
very hoary antiquity ; but it is doubtful whether the city existed prior
to the Arab conquest. Ibn Batutah, the Moor, came here about
1330 A.D., to visit the shrine of Abu Ishak el Kazeruni ; but this
individual seems since those days to have lapsed into oblivion.
The modern town, which consisted of an upper and a lowei quaiter,
was ruined and dismantled of its fortifications by Jafii Khan Zend
in the troubles at the end of the last century, and has never since
recovered. It now contains 2,000-2,500 inhabitants. In addition
to the specialities before mentioned, Kazerun has always been
famous for its school of jpehlevans or wrestlers, as also for a kind
of rough shoe of cotton and hide, which MacGregor recommended
for our Indian army. Outside is a shady garden, called the
Bagh-i-Nazar, that formerly belonged to Arnold’s ‘ Ancient Persian
monarch,’ Timur Mirza, and is sometimes placed at the disposal of
strangers. I secured comfortable quarters in the Telegraph office.
A good deal of opium and coarse tobacco are also cultivated in the
valley, which is irrigated by kanats, and is well adapted for many
kinds of vegetable and cereal produce.
While at Kazerun, whether in his upward or downward journey to
or from the Gulf, no traveller should miss the opportunity of going to
see the ruins and sculptured bas-reliefs of the ancient capital
thTruins of King Shapur, which also bears his name, and the rock-
of Shapur tablets of which are superior both in number, size, and
interest to those which I have already described at Naksh-i-Rustam.
Shapur is situated at the north-western extremity of the plain of
Kazerun, from which it is distant fifteen miles, one third of this
distance lying along the road towards the Gulf, which can accordingly
be rejoined after the deviation to Shapur, and its objects have been
successfully accomplished. In coming up from the Gulf, the stranger
should arrange to make the excursion from Kamarij, starting from
there very early in the morning in order to have a long day at Shapur,
where there is no accommodation, and to get at nightfall to Kazerun.
As my own contract for mules was independent of this divergence, I
was obliged to hire separate animals at Kazerun for the expedition to
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 [606v] (1227/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213848.0x00001c> [accessed 26 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