![Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎629r] (1274/1814)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/Mss Eur F111_33_1290.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎629r] (1274/1814)")
Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [629r] (1274/1814)
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.
THE EASTERN AND SOUTH-EASTERN PROVINCES 247
loses sight of the saline characteristics, which are an essential
connotation of the term as used in Persia. General Schindler,
The Dasht- examining the various words from which it may be de
rived—(1) the Persian gav^ a depression or hollow, (2)
the Persian gur or kur, a grave, pool, hollow, or plain (whence
gurldiar, the wild ass or ass of the plain), and (3) the Arabic kafr,
or hafreli (plural kufur), a word still in use to express a desert
in Africa and Arabia—gives the preference to the last. 1 In its
Persian application it invariably signifies a salt desert or saline
swamp, and is bestowed both upon the Great Salt Desert of
which I am now speaking, and also upon smaller kavirs or patches
of saline waste, which are to be found in other parts of the
country, 2 and which may be regarded, in some cases as repetitions
of the same phenomenon in detached localities, in others as bays
or inlets of the Dasht-i-Kavir.
The theory has sometimes prevailed that the latter owes its
origin solely to the drainage of saline streams from the highlands
. . depositing, as they evaporate, a white crust or efflores-
Its origin ° ^ ' .
cence upon the ground, and m some cases forming
pools and swamps; and there is this to be said in favour of the
hypothesis, that the streams of Persia are very frequently and
largely impregnated with salt. On the other hand, tradition is so
unanimous that the site of the Dasht-i-Kavir and, in fact, the entire
centre of Persia, were once occupied by a salt sea, and the present
physical conditions accord so well with the theory, that we shall
probably not err if we accept it. Legend asserts that this inland
sea once extended from Kazvin to Kerman and the borders of
Beluchistan. The ancient city of Rhages is said to have been
upon its northern shore, Yezd to have been an island, and
Kerman to have been upon its southern coast. The tower of
Saveh is even identified as one of the lighthouses built to guide
the mariners who navigated its waves. Sir P. Goldsmid mentions,
as confirmatory evidence, that upon the other or eastern edge of
the kavir he found a village named Yunsi, from a fixed tradition
that Yunas, i.e. Jonah, was there cast up by the whale—a fiction
1 Vroceedings of the R. G.S. (new series), vol. x. p. 627.
2 The best known of these are the kavir south of Khaf, that to the east of
Lake Niriz, and the kavir whose western limits used to be passed on the road
between Teheran and Kum, but are now occupied by the lake which appeared
there in 1883, and which is described in cap. xviii.
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
Use and share this item
- Share this item
Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [629r] (1274/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213848.0x00004b> [accessed 6 June 2026]
https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100157213848.0x00004b
Copy and paste the code below into your web page where you would like to embed the image.
<meta charset="utf-8"><a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100157213848.0x00004b">Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎629r] (1274/1814)</a> <a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100157213848.0x00004b"> <img src="https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/Mss Eur F111_33_1290.jp2/full/!280,240/0/default.jpg" alt="" /> </a>
This record has a IIIF manifest available as follows. If you have a compatible viewer you can drag the icon to load it.https://www.qdl.qa/en/iiif/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/manifestOpen in Universal viewerOpen in Mirador viewerMore options for embedding images
Copyright: How to use this content
- 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