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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [774v] (1565/1814)
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.
446
PERSIA
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conquered. But as long as the Sultan kept a reasonable lookout,
such a contingency was impossible; and the conflict was certain
ultimately to resolve itself into a dispute as to the sum for which
the invader should be bought off or persuaded to take himself out
of the country.
Muscat was crowded with the doughty warriors who had taken
part in this memorable conflict. They swarmed in the bazaar and
Arab crowded the streets, armed for the most part with long
warriors two-edged swords, like a claymore, and a small circular
buckler or target on the left hand. 1 Everyone carried a venerable
matchlock over his shoulder, and a powder-belt round his waist;
while a few were equipped with double-barrelled percussion
muskets. Having nothing better to do, they spent the time in
executing a species of war-dance before an admiring crowd : making
terrific slashes with their big swords, bounding like bucks off the
ground, and discharging their crazy pieces either into the air or
at the earth just in front of their own toes. All this took place to
the accompaniment of a species of chant, and of two drums furiously
beaten by a colossal negro. The firing went on the whole day;
and, as everyone seemed much pleased, and in the best of humours,
it was perhaps as innocent an expenditure of surplus energy and
gunpowder as could be devised. On leaving Muscat, with its
sable sultan, its lusty defenders, and [its civil warfare, I could not
suppress the reflection that c C’est magnifique, mais ce n’est pas
la guerre. 5
Proceeding northwards from Muscat, we again enter the Persian
Gulf, on our return voyage along its southern shore, by rounding
Cape the stormy cliffs of Cape Musandim. At the end of a
Musand.m ]ong an) j ru gg e a promontory, whose black basaltic cliffs
rise sheer from the water s edge, and are framed in a weird and
solemn background of igneous heights, rising at their loftiest
point to 6,/50 feet, an isolated needle of rock is severed from the
mainland by a gloomy channel only a few stones 5 throws in width, 2
winding between walls of basalt 800 feet high. This island is
Eas or Cape Musandim, the ‘ Selama’s sainted cape 5 of Moore, the
/
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1 These targets, which are as hard as wood, and appear to be of that material,
are said to be made of hippopotamus hide, and to come from Zanzibar
2 Sir Ephraim Stamms, British Resident at Bushire in the early part of the
century, once sailed through this channel in the East India Company’s sloop of /<P
war ‘ Clive,’ and it was thought a great performance. ^
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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 [774v] (1565/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213849.0x0000a6> [accessed 6 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