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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [699v] (1415/1814)
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.
350
PERSIA
river itself, which should be available for the passage of vessels.
This scheme may be dismissed from consideration as being both
costly in execution and problematical in issue, it being quite un
certain how the level of the two parts of the river would be affected
by this sudden and violent readjustment of the fall. The second
plan is the cutting of a canal with locks for a distance of about a
mile and a half from the lower to the upper river, through the
nearly level ground on the left bank. Though a perfectly feasible
undertaking, and one that has the merit of obviating tranship
ment, it is not in the least likely to be commenced by the Persian
Government, both because it would involve a considerable outlay,
and because they would forfeit thereby their control of the upper
river navigation. The third alternative, which I strongly recom
mended in writing to the 4 Times,’ was the construction of a light
horse-tramway over the same piece of ground on the left bank,
from the river below to the pool above the rapids. Traversing the
distance on foot, I found it to consist of a slight slope with in
significant undulations, the distance, if the village of Ahwaz were
skirted, being about a mile and three quarters. This work has since
been undertaken by a native company, the Nasiri, of whom I shall
have more to say later on. A tramway, however, only facilitates,
without obviating, transhipment; and I incline to the opinion that
should a railroad ever be laid upon this line it should be continued
as far as Mohammerah, so as to prevent the double break of bulk
in transhipment there and at Ahwaz j whilst the new road now
being constructed from Teheran may even find it advisable to make
Ahwaz rather than Shushter its terminus.
The modem village of Ahwaz is situated on the left bank of
the river, which rises to some height above the stream, at a point
Ahwaz, or nearly parallel with the highest rapids. It is a wretched
collection of mud-hovels, with a small rectangular fort in
a state of ruin upon the brink, and an Arab population of about
700. Nothing ledeems the place from abomination but the
possession of a humble imamzadeh, or saint’s tomb, whose white
plastered cupola gleams agreeably from a cluster of dark green
trees. This is all that survives in the room of the once famous
Aginis , 1 the mediasval capital of a province, the residence of royalty,
The yet earlier history of Ahwaz may be remitted to a footnote. Nearchus,
ascending the Pasitigris (Karun), came to a lake, into the northern end of which
the Tigris flowed, and on which was situated the Susian town or village Aginis,
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 [699v] (1415/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213849.0x000010> [accessed 2 April 2025]
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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