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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [713v] (1443/1814)
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.
PERSIA
374
to utilise the force, the grindstones revolving in small circular
towers. The water passing on falls with a splash and a roar into
the canal below, and the entire appearance of the place awakens
positive though discordant recollections of the tunnels and cascades
of the Horatian Tivoli. Of the further progress of the Ab-i-G erger
I shall speak when describing my return journey.
2. I now pass to the Karun proper, or Shuteit, and its co
ordinate system of dams, bridges, and canals. Immediately after
2 . The Ab- the point at which it parts with the Gerger Canal, the
main river takes a bend to the west, considerably widens
its bed, and forms a broad sheet of water as it washes the base of
the castle rock. This is the part of the river that was paved with
stones by Shapur, and called, in consequence, Shadurwan, or
‘ flooring.’ 1 Hounding the western angle of the citadel, the river
then turns towards the south, and at a point about 500 yards lower
down, where it is nearly a quarter of a mile in width, is spanned
by the famous so-called bund and bridge of Valerian.
These great works consist of a stone bund or dam, with sluices
for the passage of water, constructed of massive blocks of granite,
Bund and ciamped, right across the stream, and of a stone
Valerian f bnd g e of forty-one arches, built upon the top of the
dam. The bund was formerly called the Bund-i-Mizan,
01 D\ke of the Balance, for reasons which will presently be mani
fest ; and the bridge, Pul-i-Kaisar, from the supposed authorship
of the Emperor Valerian. The bridge has evidently been built and
rebuilt scores of times, as may be seen from the differing character
of the material and the different style and size of the arches. 2 The
roadway upon it is cobble-paved, and is twenty-one feet wide, and
the bridge, so far from being straight, winds about in the most
picturesque, and random fashion, its total length being 570
yards. It is approached from the town by a modern gateway
adorned with gaudy tiles, while two pillars guard the further
extremity. At the time of my visit a great gap, over seventy
yards m width, yawned in the very middle of the bridge,
both bund and bridge having been entirely swept away by a
pp \I-7Q E1 IStakhri ’ S (misnamed 0usele y Ibn Haukal) Oriental Geography,
A J br / d ^ e was destr °yed by Hejaj-ibn-Yusuf during the reign of
Abdul Malek-ibn-Mervan (a.d. 684-705). The dam is said to have been repaired
7 ^7 ™ A,T> ' 1393 ' Ttde also M - Dieulafoy, IJArt antique de la Perse, part v
JPJy • -LUtI—
\
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 [713v] (1443/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213849.0x00002c> [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