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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [759r] (1534/1814)
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
PERSIAN GULF
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
431
the Muscat frontier being at the tiny village or fort of Pishkan, a
few miles to the west of that port. Gwadur is also a station of the
Indo-European Telegraph, and is sometimes spoken of as the pos
sible maritime terminus of a railway line from Seistan, or British
Beluchistan. The town is quaintly and even picturesquely situated
on a long and low spit of sand, projecting into the sea, and narrow
ing to an apex, not more than half a mile in width, between two
bays. Upon this low neck of land is built the port of Gwadur, with
a population of about 4,000, and a trade in wool and cotton from
the interior, and in fish from the coast. On the southern side,
and immediately below the town, which is not at first visible from
the sea, the narrow spit suddenly bulges into a rocky promontory,
from 100 to 300 feet in height, the latitudinal section of which is
perhaps six miles in length, and which, presenting its broad face to
the sea, is exactly like the head of a hammer into which the haft
is fitted at the point where is built the town. The anchorage is in
34 fathoms of water, at about three miles from the shore, along
which a nasty surf is heard booming. Gwadur was once one of the
most popular stations of the Telegraph Line, and was regarded as the
sanitarium of the Gulf ports, the temperature being very equable,
and existence quite endurable even in the summer months. From
some unknown cause, however, attributed by some to the sea-water,
which is here so strongly impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen
that the fish are often killed in great numbers—a malarial fever has
developed itself, which attacks every new-comer; and the place is
now as much shunned as it was once sought. Till a few years ago,
Gwadur was also the residence of a British
political agent
A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency.
. But
the increasing unhealthiness of the spot has led to the abandonment
of the agent’s bungalow as a permanent residence, and the political
work along the Mekran coast is now discharged by an officer who
pays an occasional visit in the course of a tour of inspection. It is
highly probable that the climatic conditions may also lead to the
abandonment of the telegraph station, which appears not to be
essential to the efficient working of the line.
Upon the eastern side of the Gwadur Bay, where the spit
joins the mainland, a stately cliff, called Jebel Mahdi, rises sheer
Coast from the sea to a height of 1,360 feet, its cloven summit
scenery being shaped at one point into two projections, that have
procured for it from the compilers of the old charts the expressive
title of the Asses’ Ears. A neighbouring rock is known as the
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 [759r] (1534/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213849.0x000087> [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