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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [663r] (1342/1814)
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.
<2
THE SOUTH-WESTERN PROVINCES 303
face of one of the cliff walls of the valley. The largest of these,
twelve feet deep by twenty feet long, is defended by a loop-holed
parapet, and is only accessible by a single steep path. It is the
possession of Mihrab Khan, chief of the Isawand tribe of Bakhtiari
Lnrs. It is characteristic of every one of the natural fortresses
here described that, though impervious to pedestrian attack, they
could easily be shelled from opposite or neighbouring eminences.
In modern warfare, therefore, their strategic value would dwindle.
In the extreme north-east corner of the Bakhtiari country lies
the important town of Burujird (5,400 feet). 1 The district of which
it is the centre and capital belongs, strictly speaking, to
Irak; but inasmuch as several of the mahals which it
contains are peopled by Bakhtiaris, and as its governor exercises
jurisdiction over a large number of the latter tribe, it is more
appropriately mentioned here. The commercial importance of the
town, as situated at the junction of routes leading from Dizful,
Kermanshah, Hamadan, Teheran, and Isfahan, has been pointed
out in other chapters, and must always render it a place of
importance either for trading or strategical purposes. Burujird is
a thriving resort of business, with a population of 17,000, well
situated in a valley watered by the upper springs of the Ab-i-Diz,
and thickly studded with villages, whose orchards are renowned
for their fruits. It is surrounded by a mud wall, five miles in
circumference, pierced by five gates. The chief local manufacture
is a species of printed calico, on which native designs are stamped
by means of hand-dies cut in wood.
On the western limits of Bakhtiari Land, and on the lower
reaches of the Ab-i-Diz, is situated the less important but inte
resting town of Dizful. Its name (Diz-pul, i.e. Fort of
the Bridge) is derived from the splendid bridge, doubt
less of Sassanian structure, that here spans the stream. 2 Its lower
part is of stone, and evidently of greater antiquity than the super
structure, which is of brick. It is 430 yards in length, and con
tains twenty-two arches of varying shape and span. Like its fellow
and contemporary at Shushter, it is in a dilapidated condition, two
of the arches having recently fallen in, although communication
between the opposite banks is not thereby suspended as at
Shushter. At a little distance upstream, a number of flour-mills
1 For modern Burujird, vide Mrs. Bishop, vol. ii. Letter xxi.
3 Vide M. Dieulafoy L’Art antique de la Perse, part v. pp. 105-9.
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 [663r] (1342/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213848.0x00008f> [accessed 6 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