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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [816r] (1648/1814)
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.
REVENUE, resources, and manufactures
503
or clumps of green that occasionally meet and entrance the eye,
are almost without exception orchards. Konar trees m Arabian,
cypresses at Shiraz, groves of dwarf oak m the mountams o ^ie
south and west, corresponding with the jumper of the Khora an
ranges, walnut and mulberry trees, are almost the only other timber
encountered in a journey of perhaps a thousanc mi es. n le
other hand, in less frequented parts, which the traveller probab y
misses altogether, there is a growth as astonishing as the moie
ubiquitous dearth. The rich, humid valleys of the Caspian belt,
and the lower slopes of the Elburz range rising therefrom produce
timbers of great variety and value, some of which are we 1 adapted
for ship-building. Here the ill-starred Englishman, John Elton,
made his abortive attempt at a Persian navy in the service of Nadir
Shah. Boxwood has existed in abundance m this region, and as
been exported in some quantity to Astrakhan for Rostov on the
Don, and even to Liverpool. But no system or science of forestry
exists, and owing to the absence of regulation the supply has been
well nigh extirpated. Among the other trees that are here met
with are the oak, ash, beech, elm, alder, cherry, and thorn—all, or
nearly all belonging to the deciduous class.
A Persian garden bears no resemblance to its European name
sake. There are no trim parterres, no close-shaven sward, no
pattern or arrangement, no comely borders. The flower
anTgar- beds in the inner courts of the houses are promiscuously
dens filled with blossoming plants, and the larger gardens are
tangled wildernesses intersected with irrigation ditches. But foi
what they lack in method they atone in luxuriance, and theii
beauty in the flowering of the spring cannot be too greatly extolled.
The perfumed blossoms of Iran have been sung in many an ode
and stanza; and who has not read of the roses of Gulistan (literally >
Rose-garden), and of the gardens and nightingales of Shiraz?
Wild flowers are even more riotous in their abundance, and in
springtime the drab and desolate plains of winter burst into a
transient glory of colour and fragrance. From the far-famed
Persian roses is extracted the rose-water that is celebrated through
out the East.
The fruits of Europe and of Asia meet and fraternise upon
Persian soil. In the natural hot-bed of the Caspian belt, many of
the former, as vines, plums, hops, raspberries, apples, and pears,
grow wild, but are valueless in this state. The least culti\ ation
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 [816r] (1648/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x000031> [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