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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [700v] (1417/1814)
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
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352
PERSIA
old Aginis came to an end with the rebellion against the Khalifs
of the African negroes who had been imported to labour in the
sugar plantations. The revolt was suppressed; but the city and
its surroundings never recovered, and fell into deeper and more
forlorn decay, until the emigrant Ka’b Arabs turned their nomad
steps in this direction, and reared their clay hovels amid the piles
of debris that still mark the ancient site. Evidence of a yet earlier
period and of a dead religion, as well as a vanished splendour
exists in the sandstone ridge above mentioned, where may be seen
hollow excavations high up in the rock, hewn in the olden days of
the fire-worshippers for the exposure of the dead, and in some of
which bones were actually discovered by Lieutenant Selby’s partv.
In the mountain cliffs near Shushter have been found similar rock
Towers of Silence.
Ahwaz played a memorable but an even less distinguished part
than Mohammerah in the incidents of 1857. After the occupation
War of of the latter place, three small river-steamers, the c Comet,’
1867 ‘ Planet,' and ‘ Assyria,’ with 300 men, and three gun
boats in tow, were detached to pursue the retreating force up the
river to Ahwaz. Captain Rennie was in command of the flotilla.
Captain Hunt of the soldiers, Captain Selby commanded one of the
vessels and acted as guide. At Ahwaz the Persian infantry, 7,000
strong, with a large force of cavalry, was found encamped a few
hundred yards from the right bank ; a garrison of 500 men held
the town and fort upon the opposite shore. No sooner did the
English prepaie to land than the garrison decamped, while simul
taneously the defending army melted into the desert. The dis
solution was not less complete than when the mirage, so common
on the neighbouring Chaldaaan plains, wastes on approach into
thin air. It is true, as I have said, that the Persian Commander-
m-Chief, by paying the Grand Vizier a bribe of 8,000/., or at the
rate of about 1 /. for every man who ran away, received ’a sword of
honour from the Shah. But no historian will be disposed to speak
harshly of so superlative a sample of Eastern equity.
Since the opening of the Karun to foreign commerce in October
1888, another small settlement, called Bunder-i-Nasiri, in com-
NaSrT" Plimeut t0 (Nasr-ed-Din), had been established
on a slight elevation overlooking the river at the point
below the rapids where steamers come to anchor, and about one
mile south of the native village. So far the reality hardly cor-
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 [700v] (1417/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213849.0x000012> [accessed 7 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