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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [621v] (1259/1814)
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.
PERSIA
234
line may be seen encampments of low tents, and hapars or huts,
made of date-sticks and leaves, the nauseous domiciles of the lower
classes of the population. Such pretentiousness of air as the
modern town can claim is largely due to the wise expenditure,
by Sir L. Pelly, of part of the Mansion House Persian Famine
Relief Fund in 1870-1, in the employment of local labour. On
the southern side, or along the base of the triangle formed by the
apex of the peninsula, the town was formerly fortified by a high
wall with twelve towers and bastions and two gates, in front of
which stood some old Portuguese guns, brought either from Reshire
or Ormuz. The last time that this wall was repaired was in 1838,
when Mohammed Shah rebuilt it, to withstand a possible attack
from the English, who had occupied Kharak Island in that year.
It has since fallen to pieces, and is now a model of nineteenth
century Persian fortification.
The climate of Bushire is trying though not acutely unhealthy.
In summer, however, the heat is exhausting, and the thermometer
Climate frequently registers over 100° Fahr. in the shade. The
and water average rainfall is about twelve inches in the year. Water
is scarce: and most of the neighbouring supplies are brackish.
The wells most commonly in use are situated on the plain at the
distance of over a mile from the town gate ; but the best sources
are at five and six miles distant in the direction of Reshire.
At the time of my visit the price of the ordinary quality was 5-
6 puls (jcL), of the better quality 16 puls (2Jd) per donkey-load.
A large reservoir to collect rain-water was built on the sea-front
some years ago by a native merchant, and was opened for the
public use in April and May; but its contents were found to be
infested with the reshta or guinea-worm, which 200 years ago was
complained of by Chardin 1 and Kaempfer, 2 as tainting the water-
supplies along the Gulf-coast. ,
Though Bushire is the main port of Persia, it possesses no
thing that could by the wildest exaggeration be described under
present conditions as a harbour. The anchorage is in an open
t and unprotected roadstead at the distance of some three
miles from the shore, is much exposed to gales, and m
bad weather is inaccessible. Every cargo has to be embarked or
disembarked in native buggalows, and the process of lading and
unlading is in consequence very slow. The inner bay on the
1 Voyages (edit. Langles), vol. viii. pp. 470-4. 2 Amcen. Exot. pp. 525-35. \
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 [621v] (1259/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213848.0x00003c> [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