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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎715v] (1447/1814)

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. .

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376
PERSIA
farrowed loop. Rawlinson and other travellers have designated
it the Nahr-i-Darian, 1 or Ab-i-Miandab—the latter, which signifies
3 The ^ river between two waters, 5 being a perfectly correct de-
Minau scription of its situation, and being identical with the
modern contraction Minau (i.e. Mian-i-ab)—while Colonel
Bell calls it the Ab-i-Khurd. After leaving the cutting through
the rock which is said by Rawlinson to be 300 yards long and
15 feet broad, 2 it passes into the sandy soil behind the town, and here
its level was till lately regulated by artificial dams, of which the
most curious is a bund, thrown right across the ravine cut by the
canal and supporting a quaintly irregular bridge, the roadway of
which is stone-paved, and runs sharply uphill on one side in order
to reach the top of the bank, where is a ruined gateway and guard
house. This bridge is called the Pul-i-Lashker. When I in
spected it no water was flowing through the arches of the bund,
whilst I have already mentioned that on entering the town I was
able to ford the shrunken continuation of the same canal at a point
further to the east. The reason of its failure has been the rupture
of \ alerian s bund and bridge, by which the level of the river, at
the point where it formerly fed the canal, has been seriously
lowered, and its consequence is visible in the desiccation and
sterility that have overtaken the small Mesopotamia which it was
intended to irrigate.
I have so frequently used the^terms Valerian’s bund and bridge
m speaking of the Bund-i-Mizan, that it will be well now to
Tradition explain that I have only done so in deference to popular
legend, and because they are always so called • but in no
sense because I believe that the Emperor Valerian was personally
engaged m their execution. It is well known that in 260 a.d. the
Roman Emperor, in attempting to relieve Edessa, was taken
prisoner by King Shapur, who for seven years kept him in
captivity (it is said in the castle at Shushter), treating him, if we
are to believe a somewhat questionable legend, with extreme cruelty
and indignity, and perpetuating his insults even upon the monarch’s
corpse. In the Shah Earn eh of the Persian epic poet, Firdusi,
occurs an interesting passage, in which the conqueror is said to
1 The name Damn (which is a contraction of Darabian) seems to suggest a
connection with Darius, who may conceivably have anticipated the Sassanian
Kings m the waterworks of Shushter.
Journal of the R. 6r.S., vol. ix. p. 76.

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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
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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎715v] (1447/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213849.0x000030> [accessed 2 April 2025]

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