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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [648r] (1312/1814)
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 281
intervening valleys opening out into occasional plains, and abun
dantly watered, there is rich fodder for the flocks and herds
of the nomad tribes. In sheep and goats their principal wealth
consists; and they provide the towns of Khorremabad, Burujird,
Kerman shah, and Hamadan with mutton, curds, and butter. On
the hillsides is a somewhat scanty growth of dwarf-oak 1 and
mountain shrubs, the former bearing gall-nuts, which are an
article of commerce. The timber is but little respected by the
Lurs, who cut it remorselessly for fuel, and supply the afore
mentioned towns with charcoal. El Eeili himself has a splendid
breed of mules which he exports through Turkish territory, and
which are reputed to be the finest in Persia. The great river of
North Luristan is the Kerkhah; just as Central Luristan has the
Ab-i-Diz, and Southern Euristan the Karan. Three parent
streams, rising in the neighbourhood of Hamadan and Burujird,
unite in the plain of Kangavar, and, under the title of Gamasiab,
flow west to near Bisitun. Here the Ab-i-Dinawar flows in from
the north, and the augmented stream turns south-west and south,
receiving successively the Kara Su, the Ab-i-Chenara, the Kashgan,
and the Ab-i-Zal, until, after traversing the most magnificent
scenery as it breaks the ramparts of the mighty Zagros range,
it passes within ten miles of Hizful on the west, skirts the great
mounds of Susa, and is dissipated in the Hawizeh marshes,
formerly the Kerkhah had two outlets into the Tigris, one by the
El Khud bed at Amarah, the other a little below Kurnah into the
Shat-el-Arab ; but these appear now, as a rule, to be dry.
Though the Vali enjoys an authority which is but little interfered
with, he is responsible to Government for a fixed annual revenue,
Character which is collected by the various tribal chiefs and heads
of families upon a rough scale determined partly by the
number of tents, partly by the pastoral wealth of the particular
clan. His subjects have a bad reputation, in the main inherited,
but sustained by the plundering habits of the Sagwands in par
ticular, who are a sub-division of the Bajilan tribe. Fifty years
ago these confirmed freebooters were yaghi, i.e. in rebellion; and,
along with the Dirikwands before mentioned, they are still the
terror of the passing caravan. Colonel Bell in 1884 marched with a
1 The oak forests extend from Kurdistan in the north to Shiraz in the south.
Between Burujird and Dizful the wooded zone is li 0-120 miles in breadth, between
Shushter and Isfahan somewhat more.
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 [648r] (1312/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213848.0x000071> [accessed 7 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