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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [617v] (1249/1814)
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.
224
PERSIA
than any work of the kind that I had seen in I eisia. Its sinface r
however, was so slippery that it had prudently been abandoned by
the caravans, which had worn a tortuous stairway in the rock
alongside of it.
From a gorge far down below came the welcome roar of waters ;
and at a turn in the descent was visible the blue current of the so-
^ rk . called Daliki river, racing merrily towards the south-
river west. This river rises in the mountains ot I ars to the
south of Shiraz, runs north-west under different names, the com
monest of which it derives from the village of Daliki, which it
presently waters, and, having reached the Dashtistan or Plain-land,
joins the Shapur river, of which I have already spoken, the two
falling into the Gulf to the north of Bushire under the name of
Rohillah (Rud-hillah) or Rud-i-Shapur. From the summit of the
footal to the banks of the river was an easy walk of one hour and
twenty minutes. A. light breeze ruffled the stieam, which heie
spreads out into a wide pool, and I observed fish rising everywhere
to natural flies. The road now follows, for a little over a mile, the
right bank of the river, passing a ruined bridge, all but one or two
arches of which have disappeared, and then crosses the stream by
a fine stone bridge of six arches, terminating in a causeway on the
far side. This bridge and its pavement were both in better pre
servation than any kindred structure that I had seen in Persia,
and were the work of the Mushir-el-Mulk before mentioned. A
lofty square tower guards the north entrance to the bridge ; and a
seedy patrol, armed with a percussion musket, was taking an airing
on the parapet. Traffic over the passes is now comparatively safe,
although it is not twenty years since no party could proceed
without an armed guard ; but a few rahdars or sentinels are still
stationed on the road, their maintenance being a tax on the nearest
village ; and a few of these apologies for a gendarmerie I encoun
tered. The road follows the river down a gorge for nearly two
miles further, and then strikes up a lateral ravine, where an evil
smell betrays the presence of sulphur in the water that oozes from
the ground. In this ravine we continue for some time, until we
reach the top of a steep declivity, whence a seemingly endless
plain can be discerned stretching away in the direction of the sea,
darkened by occasional clumps of date-palms, and terminating in
sand hills that hide the waters of the Gulf. The last remaining
descent, down an inclined plane formed by a peculiar pitch of the
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 [617v] (1249/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213848.0x000032> [accessed 1 July 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