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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [664v] (1345/1814)
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.
306
PERSIA
in bygone days. They have five books, the principal of which is
the Sidra or Book of Adam, written in a dialect of. the Aramaic
language, with an alphabet closely allied to the Syriac. Though
the present Sidra is post-Mohammedan in date, its language and
ideas alike point to an earlier origin. The Sabians are monogamous
and do not practise circumcision, but have peculiar ordinances with
regard to the eating of meat. Some of them also entertain a hazy
belief in the gnostic idea of dualism, or a war of lival principles.
But no two travellers ever received from them either a coherent or
a consistent account of their faith. In appearance and dress they
are not to be distinguished from the Arabs, among whom their lot
is cast. They only intermarry amongst themselves; but their
general poverty and obscurity are reflected in theii numerical
decline. 1
I have more than once indicated that in ancient days the whole
country which I have been describing was the scene of greater
Ruins of population and busier life, and of a truly royal rule,
the past Evidences of bygone splendour, both of the Elamite or
Susian period, that mysterious blank space in history, ot the
Acheemenian times, the golden age of the Medes and Persians,
and of the later but still notable Sassanian epoch—in each of which
Persia attained to considerable grandeur—lie scattered throughout
this region from east to west. In the neighbourhood of Bizful,
where the mountain ranges are succeeded by the plains of Susiana
or Elam, occurs the most stately of these monuments to a vanished
order, in the shape of the great mounds of Shush, or Susa.
A problem that agitated and divided the savants of an earlier
generation, 2 and misled even so penetrative a critic as Bawlinson
1 For a short bibliography of the Sabians, I may mention, in addition to the
standard works of D’Anville, Assemann, D’Herbelot, Hyde, Ritter, De Sacy,
Picart, Hottinger, Gobineau, the following: Tavernier, bk. iii. cap. vim ; bangles on
Chardin, vol. vi. pp. 136-152; Sir. W. Onseley, Travels, vol. i. app. xii. ,^Dr. o ,
Travels, vol. i. pp. 330-4; (Sir) H. bayard, Early Adventures, vol. ii. pp. 163-4,171- I
De Bode, Travels, vol. ii. pp. 171-9 ; Madame Dieulafoy, La Perse, p. 547; and ■ e
following learned essays : Gesenius, Mandaer o Zabier, 1817 ; Chwolsohn, i. sa wr
und Ssabismus, 1856; Noldeke, Mundart der Mandaer, 1862, and Ma
GrammaWt, 1875 ; Edinburgh Review, Only 1880 ; Siouffi, Etudes sur la re l( P
des Soubbas on Sabiens, Paris, 1880 ; Babelon, Les Mandites, lew histoire et to
doctrine, Paris, 1882. Vide also A. H. Schindler, Proc. of the R Nov- _
2 Among those who debated the Shushan-Susa question, ma) e C1 ®
names of Ouseley, Kinneir, Gosselin (ed. of Strabo), bong, Barbie du oca »^
Hoeck, D’Herbelot, D’Anville, Vincent, Mannert, Von Hammer. A hm m g
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 [664v] (1345/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213848.0x000092> [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