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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [704v] (1425/1814)
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.
360
PERSIA
however, I am only concerned with its lower course, when, after
passing the town of Dizful, it meanders through a jungle-grown
and untilled plain until its union with the Karun at Bund-i-Kir.
I his river has only once been ascended in a steamer, namely, by
Selby and Layard in the ‘Assyria’ in the late spring of 1842
after their successful ascents of the Shuteit and the Gerger.
Pursuing with some difficulty an exceedingly tortuous channel, they
at length came to a spot called Kaleh Bunder, about twenty-five
miles in a direct line, and a g’ood deal more by water, from Bund-
i-Kir. There they found the river divided into two branches by
an island, and a natural bund or rocky reef stretching across both.
Penetrating by an opening in the right barrier, they continued
their ascent for a few miles further, and then, finding the stream
very shallow and the current strong, turned round and steamed
back to Bund-i-Kir. So far as I know, the Diz has never since
been ascended or explored by an Englishman. The jungle on its
banks is said to abound in lions, and I recommend it to any
adventurous sportsman.
The second river of the trio that unite at Bund-i-Kir, though
locally known below Shushter as the Ab-i-Shuteit, is in reality the
The Ab-i- ^ain channel of the Karun. It was the first of the
Shuteit channels navigated by Selby in the ‘Assyria’ in 1842.
He ascended it to within six miles of Valerian’s bridge at Shushter,
where the boat ran aground, and was only got off by a lucky
freshet of water descending from the hills. Both he and Layard
described it as admirably adapted for steam communication, and as
having a deep channel. It was reported to me as being broken
up near Shushter into numerous shallow channels, separated by
shoals or islets, and impassable to navigation; but it has since
been adopted by tPe ‘ Shushan ’ as a preferable channel to the
Gerger,. although the steamer can get no nearer to Shushter than
Shahrdmga, a distance of ten miles by land. ^
My own course in the ‘Susa’ was to lie up the Gerger, or
artificial canal, which, owing to its greater depth and less shifting
The AVi- be a> was at that time utilised as the river approach to
erger the capital. How I ended by steaming down instead of
up the Gerger, the circumstances which I shall now narrate will
explain. It was 6.30 p.m. when we ran up alongside the bank at
Bund-i-Kir; and the ‘Susa’ having already occupied more than
eighteen hours’ steaming, exclusive of twelve hours’ stoppage at
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 [704v] (1425/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213849.0x00001a> [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