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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [702v] (1421/1814)
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.
356
PERSIA
but there was also a Persian gentleman who wanted to go up in the
c Susa ’ himself, and had intervened as peacemaker; the Arab
sheikh of Ahwaz, a dignified old gentleman with grey beard ; and
finally, the sheikh’s son, carrying a gun to protect his father, whose
life was threatened by a blood feud, but himself attended by another
man with a gun, being in reality a prisoner, like the Bakhtiari
couple, and having been sentenced to the sticks for an act of rob
bery. In this mixed society of seyids and scoundrels, gaolers and
prisoners, Persians, Arabs, and English—as diversified a mejilis on
a small scale as was ever assembled—the momentous question was
fought out as to whether I should travel sixty miles by river or byroad.
Two more hours were wasted, and it was not till long after
noon that we were under way, and had definitively entered upon
The ‘ Susa’ ^ j ourne y to Shushter. As the hours wore on, however,
and against a current running less than 4 miles an hour
the ( Susa ’ appeared unable to achieve a higher rate of progress
than about 2 ^ miles—a speed which enabled the villagers in the
river-side camps to keep pace with us by slowly walking along
the bank—I began to think that the victory over the Mirza and
the loan of the 4 Susa ’ had been somewhat dearly purchased. In
1889, after the Karun concession had been granted, this vessel,
which is one of the two items composing the Persian Navy, had
been taken by an English captain to Ahwaz, and towed by Persians
up the rapids} since which time she had remained on the upper
liver, under the orders of the Nizam-es-Sultaneh, nominally for
purposes of trade, but in reality serving no other purpose than to
cany him up and down the river. Her draught of water was too
gieat to allow of her being 1 much used as a cargo boat, except
when the water is high. She was piloted and steered by Arabs ;
but her engineer, a Turk from Bag’hdad, had never been on the
upper river befoie, and vindicated his ignorance by a series of
assurances that would have excited the jealous envy of the Mirza.
I was to be landed without fail at Shushter at noon on the day
after we had weighed anchor from Ahwaz.
Above Ahwaz the Karun is confined within lofty banks, varying
from ten to twenty, and even thirty feet in height, with' vertical
The Karan l 310 ^ 6 mar ^ anc ^ a °f from 200 to 350 yards in
above width. lAator foi irrigation is drawn up from pools
hollowed in the river bank, by means of leather skins and
a pulley worked by oxen pacing up and down an inclined plane on
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 [702v] (1421/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213849.0x000016> [accessed 9 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