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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎652v] (1321/1814)

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. .

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<
■288 PERSIA
Sub-divisions of Chehar Lang Tribes— continued.
Bawlinson, 183G
De Bode, 1841
Layard, 1844
Self, 1889
1890
Mogui
G-holam
Ivesi
Asa
Khalil
Husami
Terdeni
Falular
Saadat-i-Said
Saadat-i-Saleh Kutah
Janiki G-armsir
Makavendi
Mumbeni
Bulveisi
Arab Gromisli
(Classified
as Dependency)
Zengbaneh
Makiyawand
Mombeni
Bulawasi, i.e.
Abul Abbasi
Zangenah
'
Makawand
Mumabun
Zanganah
G-algiri (included
by De Bode among
the Dinaruni)
for the accommodation of travellers. I then came to the city Idhaj,
which belongs to the Sultan Atabek Afrasiab. The country is called
El Lur. It abounds with high mountains, and has roads cut in the
rocks. 1 The extent in length is seventeen days’ journey, in breadth
ten. Its King sends presents to the King of Irak, and sometimes
comes tt> see him. In every one of the stations in this country there
are cells provided for the religious, enquirers, and travellers, and for
every one who arrives there are bread, flesh, and sweetmeats. I
travelled for ten days in this country over high mountains, with ten
other religious. Having finished the districts belonging to this King,
on the tenth day we entered those of Isphahan. 2
Three centuries later we have the witness of Chardin, whose
words might be taken as strictly applicable to the present day—an
indication of the slow foot with which Time marches over the more
remote spots of the earth’s surface :—
The people that inhabit Lour-Estom (i.e. Luristan) never mind the
building cities, nor have any settled abodes, but live in tents, for the
most part feeding their flocks and their herds, of which they have an
1 The allusion is no doubt to the famous paved causeway, known as the Jaddeh-
i-Atabeg, or Rah-i-Sultani, which ran from Shushter, over the Bakhtiari mountains,
to Isfahan (vide Schindler in the Journal of the R. As. Soc. 1880). The remains
of this great work are still visible on the banks of the Karun in the elevated
valley of Susan, and on the mountains above Mai Amir. It was, however, in all
probability no work of the Atabegs, but may with greater likelihood be referred
to Sassanian, or even to Achcemenian, days. De Bode erroneously identified it
with the /cAi^al laeydXrj, or Great Ladder road, encountered by the soldiers of
Alexander (Diod. Siculus, lib. vi. cap. xix.; Pliny, lib. vi. cap. xxxi.), and had a
hankering to attribute it to the Kings of Elam, including our Old Testament
friend, Chedorlaomer. The Climax Megale was more probably one of the hotals
«of Ears. 2 Travels (trans. by Rev. S. Lee), cap. vii. pp. 37-8.

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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
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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎652v] (1321/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213848.0x00007a> [accessed 2 April 2025]

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