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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [817v] (1651/1814)
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.
506
PERSIA
intoxication, the king being habitually drunk, and insisting on
making his guests and courtiers share his orgies. Chardin, who re
ported that Persian wine was made in his day in Georgia, Armenia
Media, Hyrcania, Shiraz, and A r ezd, remarked :—
Wine and intoxicating Liquors are forbidden the Mohammedans •
yet there is scarce any one that does not drink of some sort of strono'
liquor. The Courtiers, Gentlemen, and Rakes drink wine ; and as
they all use it as a remedy against sorrow, and that one Part drink it
to put them to sleep, and the other to warm and make them merry ;
they generally drink the strongest and most heady, and if it does not
make them presently drunk, they say : What wine is this ? It does
not cause mirth.
The last-named idiosyncrasy remains a characteristic of the
Persian to this day. He is not a tippler, but a toper; not a
drinker, but a drunkard. He sees no virtue in the mean, and no
degradation in excess. That if a man drinks at all, he may as well
get drunk, is his argument, the sole pleasure in drinking consisting
m intoxication. There is an old Persian saying that There is as much
sm m a glass as in a flagon; and certainly such Persians as I met,
who were content to be regarded as transgressors in this respect,'
piofited b^ the agreeable latitude of this convivial canon.
Persia possesses at present several vintages of good, and one
01 two of very superior, repute. The three principal zones of the
Present ' ' ll1 ' !u e • Azcibaijan in the north-west, Shiraz in the south,
ture” ac ancl Khorasan m the north-east; and the chief centres of
manufacture are: Shiraz, Isfahan, Kazvin, Hamadan,
verman and Yezd. 1 I also tasted local vintages at Kuchan,
Meshed Shahrud, and Teheran. The wine of* Shiraz has bv far
ie greatest formgn as well as native celebrity, being of the quality
an o c s eiry, and, particularly after being kept for a few years,
onstitutes an excellent beverage. 2 Its price is ridiculously cheap.
count ’ la .7 «!“ fn C0StS ab ° Ut 4cL a bottle ’ and is sold in the
Ham a (hi ^ ^ 10 f a bottle witllin the year. The wine of
althou r r A f k ’ and C0Sts 01ll y 2d - a bottle to produce,
although, owing to the expense of transport and middlemen, it is
Gmehn, m 1771 (Histoire des Be convert es vol ii mi 44 7 c .
as being- .nanufactnred in Gilan and Mazandenm from the wild ^0 Wm6
Swi, cap. WillS ’ ^ ^ ofth& Lion and the
mm 1 . .is m Sr - - SM ~ — -
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 [817v] (1651/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x000034> [accessed 8 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