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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [608v] (1231/1814)
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.
210
PERSIA
In the stony wilderness of ruin that marks the site of the ancient
city, few remains are now capable of identification. Moriei spoke of
Existin underground passages as believed to exist in great number,
ruins and as requiring exploration ; but he could gain no information
himself on the point, nor have subsequent travellers been more suc
cessful. The ruins of an enclosure, one hundred feet square, have been
variously supposed to be those of a fortress or a mosque. Buckingham,
in 1816, discovered two small fire altars like those of which I have
spoken, near the Tomb of Cyrus ; but, as he advertised their portability,
it would appear that they have since been carried off. The only ruin
of any moment is that of a building fifty feet square, one wall of which,
composed of beautiful masonry, is still standing, though half-buried in
the soil ■ and which presents a section of an arched window and the
remains of some bull-headed capitals, no doubt an imitation of those at
Persepolis, that probably once supported an architrave or roof. Behind
it Morier thought that he saw the traces of a theatre.
In the very jaws of the gorge, a spur of the south-east cliff stands
forward, in the shape of a solitary pinnacle-like rock, the sides of
which are covered with old walls, and the summit with the
Cltadel remains of an old castle. There can be no doubt that this
edifice, to which the Persians give the popular appellation of Kaleh-i-
Dokhter, or Maiden’s Fortress, is the remains of the ancient citadel,
absolutely commanding as it does the mouth of the defile. It is the
structure alluded to by El Istakhri in the passage already quoted.
Turning the corner of this rock, we enter the gorge, and are imme
diately confronted with the sculptured bas-reliefs, which, like those at
Naksh-i-Rustam, have survived the more perishable structures
Bas-reliefs ^ ^riek or stone, and when all other records of man’s handi
work have perished, will still transmit to future ages the pioud lecord
of Sassanian splendour. Of these, there are two on the right-hand side
of the gorge, i.e. on the left bank of the river; and four on the opposite,
or left-hand, side, above the right bank of the river. I will first
describe the two former, which, being on the level of the spectator,
and immediately alongside of the road running into the valley, are very
easy of access.
The first tablet encountered has suffered severely from time and the
hands of destroyers 1 Its upper portion has entirely perished, but in
the lower part are visible the legs of two horses confronting each other,
whose riders have been obliterated out of all recognition. The horse
1 Flandin and Coste, vol. i. pi. 48. This engraving, compared with Stolze’s
photograph (Persepolis, vol. ii. pi. 142), and Dieulafoy’s (L'Art Antique de la
Perse, part v. pi. 18), as well as with my own, will be found to share the in
accuracy not uncommon in the Frenchmen’s reproductions of the Sassanian
sculptures.
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 [608v] (1231/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213848.0x000020> [accessed 6 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