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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [670v] (1357/1814)
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.
316
PERSIA
almost parallel with its own upper waters. Other noticeable con
fluents are a river from the east receiving the overflow of the
Chaghkhor Lake, and a stream from the north, called the Ab-i-
Beheshtabad (Abode of Paradise), or Darkash Warkash (from
the teng through which it cuts its way), that drains Chehar
Mahal. Near Dopulun (Two Bridges), flows in the Ab-i-Sabzu
(also called Dahinur, Dinaran, and Ab-i-Gurab). From the south
comes the Ab-i-Bors, hailing from the lofty Kuh-i-Dina range.
From this point to Shushter its tributaries are frequent, but
relatively insignificant; they include several salt or naphtha-stained
streams.
I have said that the Zendeh Bud also rises in the Kuh-i-rang,
although on its opposite side. Between the two rivers extends a
The Kar mountain spur, through which, into the Shurab (Salt
Kiman Water) valley, it was the design of the earlier Sefavi
kings to divert the waters of the Karun, so as to recruit their
beloved Zendeh Bud, too often a slender streamlet by the time it
reached Isfahan. The place is known as Kar Kunan, or The
Workers. This ambitious but sensible project, of which mention
is made by Herbert, 1 Olearius, 2 Tavernier, 3 Sanson, 4 and Chardin, 0
appears to have been initiated in the sixteenth century by Shah
Tahmasp, who began to excavate a tunnel, but is said to have been
repelled by the noxious vapours. Abbas the Great, abandoning
the tunnel scheme, for which the appliances of that age were
hardly adequate, commenced a cutting, upon which, according to
Herbert, he employed 40,000, and sometimes 100,000 men. He
was vanquished by the snows and by the cold in winter. Abbas II.
tried the simultaneous experiment of damming the river, so as to
raise its level, and of mining the rock, under the direction of
M. Genest, a French engineer. Both schemes were failures; and
there the matter has rested till the present time. Stack visited the
unfinished cutting in 1881, and reported it to be a huge cleft, sawn
right across the crest of the hill, 300 yards in length, 15 in
breadth, and 50 feet deep (measurements which, I believe, are not
correct). 6 The quarried rocks are still symmetrically piled m
heaps, and the ruins of the stone huts, built for the workmen, aie
1 Some Yeare,8' Travels, p. 166.
3 Travels, lib. iv. cap. vi.
5 Voyages (ed. LangEs), vol. vii. pp. 279-84.
6 Six Months in Persia, vol. ii. p. 84.
2 Voyage, col. 754.
4 Etat present de la Perse, p. 78.
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 [670v] (1357/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213848.0x00009e> [accessed 23 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