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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [669r] (1354/1814)
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.
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THE SOUTH-WESTEBN PROVINCES 313
priests and worshippers in an attitude of supplication, and being
explained by an inscription of thirty-six lines in a complicated
cuneiform character. 1 The above sculptures are either Susian or
AchaBmenian in origin, and date from the eighth or ninth centu
ries B.c. and later. (5) In a neighbouring gorge, called Hong, are
some Sassanian sculptures, the central figure of which is a monarch
with the familiar bushy mop of hair.
About twenty miles to the north-west of Mai Amir, and on
the right bank of the Karun, is the small plain of Susan. The
recurrence of this name, the presence here of a second,
OUSclll ^ # '
but even more insignificant, Tomb of Daniel, and the
stories that were told him by the Lurs of wonderful ruins in the
neighbourhood, led Rawlinson, who did not visit the locality him
self, to think that here, rather than at Susa, might be the Shushan
of the ancients. Layard, who visited the spot under circumstances
of great difficulty and hardship, 2 reduced the patriotic hyperbole of
the Lurs to its proper dimensions. Some insignificant remains
of roughly-hewn stone, the probable foundations of a Sassanian
building, were called by them Musjid-i-Suleiman, or the Temple
of Solomon, a monarch much venerated in Lur tradition; some
further heaps of old masonry were similarly designated Mal-i-
Wiran, or Ruined Settlement. As the Karun enters this valley
from the east, it is flanked on either side by the paved causeway,
attributed to the Atabegs, which I have mentioned; and a little
below are the remains of the famous bridge of Harah-zad, which
here spanned the torrent, and was regarded as one of the wonders
of the ancient world. 3 In mid-stream are two huge masses of brick
work, probably Sassanian, that supported the arches; on the
mountain sides are visible the earlier Kaianian abutments, from
which they sprang. The occurrence of these numerous relics of
1 Also printed by Layard, ibid., pis. ?l- 2 , and deciphered by Sayce, Actes, fyc.,
pp. 653, 699. De Bode made drawings of two sculptures in an adjoining cavern,
which were published by Flandin and Coste, vol. iv. pi. 228. The natives call the
inscriptions Khat-i-Feringhi, or European writing, and are much disappointed
when a foreigner cannot read them. Their belief, which would seem to be an
unconscious corroboration of the Asiatic-Aryan theory, is that the ancient inhabi
tants of Persia, upon migrating to the west, buried their treasure with instructions
as to the site, sculped in a language which their modern European descendants
must naturally know.
2 Journal of the R.G.S., vol. xvi. pp. ?A-2] Early Adventures, vol. i. pp. 415-28.
, 3 So called from the mother of Ardeshir, the first Sassanian king. There is a
long account of it in the Athar el beldan, fyc., of Zak. Mohammed Kazvim.
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 [669r] (1354/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213848.0x00009b> [accessed 4 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