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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [728r] (1472/1814)
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.
THE NAVY
395
small river steamer of thirty horse-power, called the c Susa.’ The
cost of the two vessels was 30,000L ; and their annual maintenance
is said to have amounted to 3,500Z. The c Persepolis ’ is armed
with four 7*5 centimetre Krupp guns ; and was originally de
signed for the double purpose of bombarding refractory fishing
villages, or intimidating local governors and sheikhs, and of con
veying cargoes of dates and pilgrims. I am not aware that she
has ever been used for the latter object; but in the intervals when
she is in a navigable condition, she conveys the Governor of
Bushire, and deputy of the Amin-es-Sultan on the
Persian Gulf
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
littoral, from one port to another, spends her powder, exercises
her guns, and impresses the maritime population by firing salutes
of seventeen guns, whenever that worthy arrives at a new port;
and in general conveys to the Shah’s subjects in these parts an
idea of the overwhelming importance of their royal master. I saw
and made a careful inspection of the ‘ Persepolis ’ at Lingah, whither
she had come on one of these official errands. Her crew consisted of
forty Persians and Arabs, officered by four Germans, who had picked
up the English language in the Gulf. She possessed an Arab, though
formerly she had had a German, engineer. In addition to the
four Krupp guns, she carried two old brass muzzle-loading smooth
bores in the forecastle for firing salutes ; and an armoury of forty
Mauser rifles and cutlasses. The ship was in spick-and-span in
terior condition, and below decks she was more like a comfortable
passenger steamer than a man-of-war, having a large saloon, good
cabin accommodation, and a fine apartment for the Governor in the
poop, with a comfortable bedroom attached, which, however, was
unoccupied by His Excellency, who, true to the national habits,
preferred to court slumber on the floor. The c Persepolis ’ had been
laid up in the previous year in the dry dock at Bombay, in order
to be cleaned from the shells and barnacles which had accumulated
on her sides and bottom, reducing her speed from a nominal eight
to ten knots an hour to five. Already, however, she had again
become foul, and could not steam more than seven knots in the
hour, and her commander, in order to avoid the expense of a second
trip to Bombay, was searching for a suitable spot either on the
shore of Kishm, or of the island opposite Laft, to beach her, and
scrape and paint her again. The guns of the ‘ Persepolis ’ have
never yet fired a shot in anger; but the general terror inspired by
the four Krupps is so great, that immediately upon her appearance
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 [728r] (1472/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213849.0x000049> [accessed 5 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