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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [703v] (1423/1814)
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.
358
PERSIA
banks. Originally the Shapur, commonly pronounced Shaur
river, which washes the western face of the great mound of
Shush or Susa (Shushan the palace), flowed into the Karun from
the north-west a little below Weiss. After deserting this bed it
adopted a more southerly channel, joining the main river near
Ahwaz. Later again it struck northwards, and at the time of
Layard’s and Selby’s explorations in 1842, was found entering the
Ab-i-Diz, or Dizful River, at a point twelve miles above Bund-i-
Kir. 1 The comparatively recent and well-ascertained history of
this river, whose various channels can be distinctly traced, is
typical of that of all the rivers of Susiana, including the Karun
itself, and accounts for the difficulty that has been felt by writers
m identifying and reconciling the obsolete descriptions of the
ancients.
Eor at least twelve miles above Weiss the Karun is followed in
a perfectly straight line to Bund-i-Kir, where, for the first time
Point of since leaving Mohammerah, we find the river split up
confluence i nt o several confluents ; this being the point of junction
of three streams, the Ab-i-Gferger, or artificial canal that runs from
Shushter on the east; the Ab-i-Shuteit, or Karun proper, that
runs also from Shushter in the centre; and the Ab-i-Diz, or river
of Dizful, that runs from Dizful on the west. Comparing the
singular straightness of the twelve-mile stretch of water below the
angle of confluence with the accounts of old Arab geographers
who reported the artificial canal of the Ab-i-Gerger as being con
tinued to Ahwaz, Selby thought that he saw therein a survival of
the atter work; an hypothesis whose likelihood is only invalidated
by the complete absence of any ancient bed, such as ought in that
case to be forthcoming in the neighbourhood, of the main body of
tne Karun. ^
und-i-Kir, called by Kinneir Bundekeel, and by Loftus
Bendergln , signifies the lund or dyke of Ur or bitumen, the
Bund-i-Kh- * ' 0nes A “ f an artlfi cial dam which, like those of Shushter
, . T: A]lW y once spanned the river at this point, and
bv 4 A Wif t0 Dai ' ms ’ havin g doubtless been cemented
found? •LA : 1 The members of Euphrates Expedition
neark^OO J r 6 Walled with a Population of
nearly 600; and General Chesney’s book contains an illustration
ie place as it then existed from the pencil of Major Estcourt
1 Journal of the R. G. S., vol. xvi. p. 57 .
-
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 [703v] (1423/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213849.0x000018> [accessed 11 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