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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [712v] (1441/1814)
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.
372
PERSIA
on the subject, nor without personal examination on the spot—a
task which some of my predecessors appear to have discharged in
the most perfunctory fashion.
1. The Ab-i-Gerger Canal. At the point of its divergence
from the Karun, 600 yards above the town of Shushter, an arti-
i The Ab- thrown across the opening of the canal.
i-Gerger This dyke is constructed of large blocks of hewn stone,
which in the low water of the summer months are left quite bare,
with six sluices or passages for the water between. It appears to
have been repaired, at the same time as Valerian’s bridge, by
Mohammed Ali Mirza, in the early part of this century, and to
have then exchanged its previous name of Bund-i-Kaisar (a pro
bable allusion to the legendary handiwork of Valerian in the reign
of Shapur) for that of Bund-i-Shahzadeh, or Prince’s Dyke. I did
not, however, gather that either name is now in use.
At a little distance below this dam commences the artificial
cutting in the sandstone rock through which the canal is conducted,
Dams and and at half a mile from it occurs a second bund or dam,
mills which now completely blocks the progress of the stream.
The present structure cannot be of ancient date; for when Sir
J. Kinneir visited Shushter in 1810, he describes this bund as 4 a
bridge of one arch, upwards of eighty feet high, from the summit
of which the Persians frequently throw themselves into the water
without sustaining the slightest injury ; ’ 1 and Rawlinson, in 1836,
still speaks of £ a bridge of a single arch,’ 2 although, from his
description of the lower part of the dam, I cannot help thinking
that he was mistaken therein. Anyhow, by 1841, when Layard
first visited Shushter, the arch had disappeared, and the present
solid stone barrier had taken its place. This is in the form of a
wall, about sixty yards long, and twenty-five feet high, built right
across the artificial cleft in the rock, which is here nearly a hundred
feet in depth ; the masonry of the wall rising on the south side
from a sloping dam, also made of big stones, with an approximate
elevation of forty feet; so that the entire height of the bund from
1 Geographical Memoir, by J. M. Kinneir, p. 97. I shall have occasion more
than once to allude to the extraordinary errors of previous writers in describing
the waterworks of Shushter. But not one of them is comparable with that of
Kinneir, who, both in his narrative and in his map, confounded the river and the
canal, and reversed their geographical positions. After this it is not surprising to
find him mistake the hund of Ahwaz for the continuation of an old palace wall
across the river. 2 Journal of the R.G.S., vol. ix. p. 77.
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 [712v] (1441/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213849.0x00002a> [accessed 22 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