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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [797r] (1610/1814)
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.
f’'-
467
of the Gulf, is apt to be extremely tedious. I may, perhaps
console myself, if not others, by the reflection that it will at least
provide time even for the reluctant reader to get through this
chapter. At Busrah the up-steamers are in correspondence with
the excellent boats of the Euphrates and Tigris Navigation Com
pany, which ascend the Tigris in from three and a half to four days
to Baghdad; an alternative, to which a European will never volun
tarily resort, being supplied by the river boats of the Turkish
Company, of which there are at present four in working order',
running once or twice a week. At Bombay the down-steamers
are in correspondence with the P. and 0. mail boats to Europe.
Steamers of the Bombay and Persia Steam Navigation Company,
officered by Englishmen, but owned and controlled by native
merchants, and working on a cheaper scale, also sail at irregular
intervals between Bombay and the Gulf ports as far as Busrah.
A Gulf
steamer
A French line of steamers for some time ran to the Gulf; but in
spite of a heavy subsidy, was compelled to desist. There was a
talk of the revival of a French line to Busrah, in correspondence
with the Messageries Maritimes, who now run five boats monthly
between Marseilles and Kurrachi. Messrs. Darby, Andre wes & Co.
are the only English merchants now running steamers directly
from England to Bushire and Busrah; though vessels are frequently
chartered for single voyages by business firms.
In taking leave of the
Persian Gulf
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
, let me describe the last
recollection that is imprinted upon the retina of the traveller’s
memory. The fore deck of a Gulf steamer presents one
of the most curious spectacles that can be imagined.
I have seen many quaint conglomerations of colour, race, language,
and religion, but rarely any more diversified than this. Arabs in
their soiled silk hefiehs and camel’s-hair head-bands, frequently
engaged in playing a sort of nursery whist with battered English
cards, or sometimes reading aloud with guttural monotone from
paper-bound books; a Persian dealer carrying horses to Bombay,
and awaking bubbles from his eternal kalian ; Mussulman pilgrims
from the holy places of Sunni or Shiah, saying their prayers,
kneeling, and touching the deck with their foreheads, while one
chants the formula of devotion ; orthodox Hindus conducting their
ablutions in a corner, or cooking the food which no one else may
defile by contact; a fat Turk sipping his gritty coffee; a
Lascar
A term used by the British officials to describe non-European sailors employed on East India Company ships.
having his head shaved clean save for a lanky topknot on the poll;
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 [797r] (1610/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x00000b> [accessed 12 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