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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [711v] (1439/1814)
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.
370
PERSIA
behind, not unlike the Afghan’s head-dress. One who was well
qualified to speak informed me that c in character they are close,
seldom spending money on anything but actual necessaries ; that
in bargaining they can hold their own with any Oriental people,
and that to call them sharp in business matters is not saying much.’
The town is divided into several wards or quarters, each with its
own khan, and the population into corresponding factions ; and
where in England local conflicts are decided on November 5 by
the peaceful arbitrament of the polling-booth, the Shushteri wire
pullers, who would probably confess a hearty contempt for repre
sentative institutions, adopt the more primitive method of fighting
it out in the streets. 1 Finally, Layard may be quoted for the state
ment that ‘ the Shushteri ladies are renowned for their beauty, but
not for their virtue ; ’ with which concluding touch I may take
literary leave of the good folks of Shushter.
In the situation of the town there is much that both harmonises
with and accounts for the idiosyncrasies of its people. Unlike
Situation most Persian cities of any size, which are commonly built
of town j n pi a i ns a t no great distance from the base of mountains
whence they derive their water, Shushter is built upon a rock, and
is at once sustained and fortified by the command of a noble river.
Emerging from a pink sandstone ridge at a distance of about three
miles to the north of the town, the Karun river, hitherto pent up
in narrow gorges, and foaming over an obstructed bed, expands
itself with all the luxury of new-found ease in the flat alluvial
plains that stretch from here to the sea. By this mountain barrier,
which is, so to speak, the advance-guard of the mighty Zagros
range behind, Shushter is shut off from easy contact with the rest
of Persia, and is brought into direct association both with the
Iliats, or nomad tribes of the mountains, forming the various
branches of the great family of Lurs, and with the Arabs of the
plains. Its position at the outlet of the hills explains both its i
political and commercial importance; since it is at once the spot
1 When the Nizam-es-Sultaneh was deprived of his post at No Ruzin 1891, and
when news of the change of governors reached Shushter, that town and its people
showed in their true colours. Everyone armed himself, and started out to wreak
his private vengeance. Business was suspended; the shops were closed; the rival
chiefs seized, and tortured, and mutilated each other; there was fighting in the
streets; and patrols of armed men with difficulty kept the peace at night. The
same phenomenon was repeated up and down Arabistan, and the governors of
Hawizeh and Fellahieh were expelled by former tenants of their office.
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 [711v] (1439/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213849.0x000028> [accessed 4 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