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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [828r] (1672/1814)
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 521
ported to exist near Dizful, and near Kasr-i-Shirin and Kalliur, in
tlie KermansEah district of Persian Kurdistan. Outputs have
further been observed at Ahmedi and Pudun, north of Bunder Abbas,
and in the neighbourhood of Semnan. The only other place, how
ever, where it is extracted for use, appears to be at Salakh, in the
island of Kishm, where a coarse but promising oil is employed by
the natives, both as an illuminant and for rheumatic complaints.
While speaking of naphtha I must not omit to mention a
variety of bitumen known as rnwYiicii, which is collected b\ exuda
tion from rocks near Behbehan, and at Darab. It has
Munnaz enjoyed a great celebrity in Persia, being credited
with wonderful therapeutic properties, particularly when applied
to broken limbs. Chardin, 1 Kaempfer, 2 Le Brun, 3 and the old
travellers in general, give long descriptions of its character and
efficacy, usually denoting it a precious drug or gum, and being
apparently very much puzzled as to its origin. After being
collected, it is made up into hard, cylindrical rolls, and is packed
for transmission in gold or silver paper.
The islands of the
Persian Gulf
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
, though famous in past times
as emporia of commerce, have now little claim to notice, except as
^ ^ the source from which is derived a large amount of rock
Rock salt _ 0
and iron salt. Ormuz and Kishm, whose harbours have sheltered
the argosies of Portugal and Spain, now export in native
sailing craft the salt and iron ochre which are their sole marketable
commodities. The salt used to be collected from salt-pans by
evaporation; but it is now quarried from the rock with crowbars
or blasted with gunpowder, and is carried on camelback to the
beach, where its price is 13
rupees
Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf.
a ton. The annual export
of these islands is said to be 25,000 to 30,000 tons a year, the
best salt coming from Nemekdan on Kishm, where there is a
perpendicular cliff of pure rock salt, 200 to 300 feet high; and the
markets to which it is despatched are Muscat, Zanzibar, Bombay,
Mauritius, and Java. The salt is almost everywhere found in
combination with iron ochre, locally known as gilek or gilu, the
trade in which has lately been farmed for 650
tomans
10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value.
by a Persian.
The annual export has hitherto amounted only to 1,500 tons ; but
it is probable that this could be largely increased. There are
1 Voyages (edit. Dangles), vol. iii. pp. 311-12.
2 Avieenitates Exuticce, pp. 516-21.
3 Travels, cap. xlv.; vide also Sir W. Ouseley, Travels, vol. ii. Appendix v.
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 [828r] (1672/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x000049> [accessed 2 April 2025]
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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