![Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎765v] (1547/1814)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/Mss Eur F111_33_1567.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎765v] (1547/1814)")
Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [765v] (1547/1814)
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.
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Castles
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that, accordingly, their only playground is this gloomy cone of rock,
which admits of positively no other diversion than that supplied
by the paint-pot.
Towards the inner hollow of the bay, which is here about a
quarter of a mile in width, the town is commanded on either side
by ancient Portuguese fortresses, perched on the summits
of two craggy peaks. 1 These forts are not the only relics
of the century and a half of Portuguese dominion at Muscat; a
dilapidated building, now used as the Sultan’s stables, being the
remains of the old Catholic cathedral. The situation of the forts
and town awakens sharp recollections of the entry to the harbour
at Corfu. Indeed, Muscat might perhaps be brought before a
reader’s eye by describing it as a mixture of Corfu and Aden, com
bining the romantic outline of the one with the forbidding desola
tion of the other. I ascended to the eastern castle, and was shown
over its defences by the commandant, a handsome bearded Beluchi.
They consisted of a small detachment of Arab warriors, of venerable
and tattered appearance, and of a battery of ancient iron guns,
some lying on the ground, some on broken carriages half-tilted in
the air. A few poked their rusty nozzles through embrasures in
the wall, and were pointed at every conceivable angle to command
the harbour and opposite rocks; but the majority were lying
stranded on the ground ; while one or two had tumbled down the
cliff and were being playfully washed by the waves 200 feet below.
One of the iron guns had stamped upon it the word Hollandia—
eloquent witness to a vanished day—and a bronze gun bore the
blazonry of the royal arms of Portugal.
Prom either of the forts a striking panorama can be obtained
of the town. Occupying the small intervening space between the
Panorama ^ ai ^ our an( ^ uiountains, it is defended on the sea
front by the castles, and on the land side by a stone
wall half a mile long with splid towers, and a fosse in fair repair
_! The weste ynmost of these, now called Merani (Fraser calls it Kumalli, Kev.
G. Badger, m his map, Kaleh-el-Gharbieh), is a little the senior in origin. It was
egun about^lSo 0 by Dom Joao da Lisboa, and finished in 1588, when it received
e title of Fort Capitan. The second, or eastern fort, originally called Sam Jao,
but now known as JeJali (the ‘Glorious’; Rev. G. Badger, Kaleh-es-Sharkieh) was
completed about the same time-viz. in 1587, during the viceroyalty of Manuel
e Souza Gontinho. How these big names and proud deeds of the old Portuo-uese
conquerors contrast with the shrivelled possessions and the dissipated physique
of their present descendants, the dingy domestic-servant population of Goa !
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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 [765v] (1547/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213849.0x000094> [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