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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [669v] (1355/1814)
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.
814
PERSIA
a past which has vanished from memory, and almost from know
ledge, is not the least among the recompenses that await the
traveller in this romantic portion of the Shah’s dominions ; and I
at once urge and envy the scholar who, with time and means at
his disposal, shall in the future visit and exhaustively examine the
whole of this interesting region. I believe that he may return
with a spoil that will shed a valuable light upon history, besides
conferring upon himself well-merited distinction.
Further to the south, amid the mountain ranges inhabited by
various tribes of the Lur family, other remains have been discovered
otlier and described. Of these the most important are some
remains sculptures, of which drawings were made by De Bode, 1
in a gorge called the Teng-i-Saulek, at a distance of seven farsakhs
from Behbehan, in the territory of the Bahmei tribe of Bakhtiaris.
At a Mamasenni village named Nurabad, between Behbehan and
Kazerun, and on the banks of a small river, is a great Sassanian
bas-relief, representing a seated monarch and his courtiers, not
unlike one of the tablets at Shapur. It is called Naksh-i-Babram,
and the plain Sahra-i-Bahram. 2 .
The most remarkable natural feature of the region which I
have been describing is, undoubtedly, the splendid and self-willed
The Karim torrent of the Upper Karun. This river, of the lower
river reaches of which I shall have so much to say in the
ensuing chapter, is called, in these volumes, by the name which
it commonly bears, alike in Arabistan and in popular terminology.
Its true orthography, however, would appear to be Kuran, from
the Kuh-i-rang, or Variegated Mountain, in which it rises. 3 Though
parts of the upper course of this great river have been followed
or traced by the travellers to whom I have so frequently referred,
and though its reputed source was visited by Stack in 1881, it was
not till two years ago (1890) that its impetuous and zigzag current
was tracked to its real birthplace, and pursued through the gorges
and valleys of its parent mountains, by Major Sawyer, of the Indian
Intelligence Department. In the very heart of Bakhtiari Land
stands the lofty mountain cluster known as the Kuh-i-rang, or
1 Engraved and published by Flandin and Coste, vol. iv. pis. 224-7.
2 Vide Flandin and Coste, vol. iv. pi. 229; De Bode, vol. ii. p. 225 , Sto ze,
Persejjolis, vol. ii. pi. 146. her
3 The Portuguese writers, De Barros and Cotinho, called it Rio Caronr
appellations in European writers of the last two centuries have been one
Kureng, Kuren, Keren, and Couran.
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 [669v] (1355/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213848.0x00009c> [accessed 25 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