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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [643r] (1302/1814)
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 SOUTH-WESTERN PROVINCES
275
although the prevalence of polygamy among the tribes, and the large
families reported by recent travellers, may be held to justify the
opposite opinion.
Lur-i-Knchik, or Lesser Luristan, embraces the region between
Dizful on the south, and the confines of Kermanshah on the north.
TheFeilis and between ^ Ab-i-Diz on the east, and the Turkish
frontier on the west. It is subdivided into two sections
called respectively Pish-Kuh, i.e. Before the Mountains, or Cismon-
tane Luristan, and Pusht-i-Kuh, i.e. Behind the Mountains, or
Transmontane Luristan, the dividing ridge being that section of
the Zagros range which is locally known as the Kebir Kuh. Till
the accession of the Kajar dynasty there was no political distinc
tion between the two ; but Pish-Kuh was taken away by Agha
Mohammed Shah from the Vali of Luristan, who has ever since been
forced to content himself with Pusht-i-Kuh. Hence it arises that
the Feili nomenclature, which was formerly applied to the whole of
Lur-i-Kuchik, has become restricted in popular usage to the Pusht-
i-Kuh, the I eilis proper constituting the bulk of the population in
the latter district.
Pish-Kuh, which is the eastern portion of the Luristan province,
has for its boundaries Kermanshah on the north, the Ab-i-Diz and
Pish-Kuh the Bakhtiari country on the east and south, and the
River Kerkhah on the west. It differs both in political
organisation and in the character of its people from Pusht-i-Kuh.
For since the partition before mentioned, it has remained under
the conti ol of a Persian Glovernor, instead of a native chief, the
tushmals 01 petty chieftains (lit. heads of the house) being subordi
nate and answerable to him • whilst, owing to the proximity of large
towns, such as Kermanshah, Khorremabad, and Burujird, to the
accessibility of the district, and to the neighbourhood of the
electric telegraph, its population has been much more exposed to
the influence of Government, and has consequently become more
sedentary than is the case in the mountain fastnesses further to
the west. The two main tribal divisions of Pish-Kuh are the
Gulek and Selewerzi; and these are subdivided respectively into
the Amala and Bala Giriwa, and the Sila Sila and Dilfan tribes,
which in Rawlinson’s and Bayard’s time were, as now, the princi
pal names. The subheadings or clans of these tribes have, however,
changed very much since those days, having in some cases disap
peared, and in others changed their names ; so that it is useless for
T 2
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 [643r] (1302/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213848.0x000067> [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