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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [651r] (1318/1814)
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
285
rule . 1 South of the main range are the similar elevated valleys of
Mai Amir and Kaleh-i-Tul. It is a lovely country and well suited
to every requirement of nomad existence. Its inhabitants can
accommodate their level to the climate, choosing, according to the
season of the year, any elevation from 2,000 to 12,000 feet . 2 On
the hill slopes there is more timber than in any part of Persia with
the exception of the Caspian provinces. Oak, ash, walnut, plane,
elm, poplar, willow, ilex, beech, wild rose, briar, hawthorn, maple,
wild fig, vine, hop, and almond, have all been found in the Bakh-
tiari hills. To the same camps or spots in the mountains come
every year in the summer the same families or clans, their peculiar
haunts being marked by white stones, which the tribal code forbids
to move or to transgress. Before they start in the autumn they
sprinkle the seed in the cultivable places ; and on their return in
the spring find a thirty-fold and gratuitous harvest.
What has been the history of this interesting country and
people ? Of the mystery of their origin I have previously spoken.
Their From the earliest days we read of this mountain country
history as a w Rd an( j inaccessible region, inhabited by uncouth
and formidable tribes. They set at nought the authority of the
Medes and Persians; they defied Alexander , 3 and provoked Antio-
chus . 4 The invading Arabs found them a hard nut to crack.
Between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries, however (1155 to
1424, a.d.), we find a powerful Mussulman dynasty, known as the
Fasluyah, ruling the Bakhtiari country from Isfahan to Shushter
under the title of Atabegs. Their stronghold was the mountain
fastness of Mungasht, and their winter quarters were at Idej near
Mai Amir. Ibn Batutah, the Moorish pilgrim, travelled through
their dominion about 1330 a.d., and left the following testimony
to its good governance :—
I then travelled (i.e. after leaving Tostar or Shushter) for three
days over high mountains, and found in every stage a cell with food,
1 Each village contains its priest and its kutolkov, or church—a mud building
unadorned outside, but more or less embellished within. The amicable juxta
position of Armenians and Bakhtiaris in this part of Persia presents a striking-
contrast to the cat-and-dog existence of Nestorians and Kurds, as depicted in my
chapter on the North-west Provinces.
2 We are irresistibly reminded of Isaiah xlix. 9 : ‘ Their pastures shall be in all
high places. They shall not hunger nor thirst, neither shall the sun nor heat
smite them; for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs
of water shall he guide them.’
3 Quintus Curtins, lib. v. cap. iii. 4 Pliny, lib. vi. cap. xxi.
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 [651r] (1318/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213848.0x000077> [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