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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [164r] (330/1814)
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.
MESHED
153
As soon as we diverge from the Khiaban, we plunge into the
familiar labyrinth of intricate alleys, wandering between mud
walls, turning odd corners that seem to lead nowhere,
of the city, occasionally stumbling upon a small piece of bazaar, now
Cemeteries em Q Y g[ n g upon open spaces and heaps of rubbish. The
houses of the wealthier citizens are concealed behind high walls ;
the poorer hovels are entered by low doorways often below the
level of the street. Suddenly we come upon a vast open area, the
surface of which is broken into irregular heaps, and littered with
broken slabs of stone. This is one of the cemeteries, for a portion
of whose hallowed soil a large price is paid by believers, and for
a final resting-place in which corpses are frequently transported
for thousands of miles. Hard by, masons in their sheds are busy
chiselling the memorial stones, of a coarse granite quarried in the
neighbourhood ; engraving upon their surface a text from the Koran,
or some symbol of the craft or status of the deceased. No more
permanent or irremovable tombstone is tolerated ; for it is essential
to the requirements of the restricted area and to the revenues of
the shrine that the ground should be constantly re-available for
use, and as soon as the covering of an old grave has fallen in a
new-comer is interred in its place. Over several of the graves were
erected small white awnings or tents, in which mullahs are hired
by the friends of the deceased to sit and moan prayers, and thus to
expedite his path to heaven.
In spite of the number of these cemeteries and the outrageous
violation of sanitary laws with which they are managed ; in spite of
Health of crowded numbers of human beings constantly packed
Meshed i n the city, and of its frequent and filthy cesspools,, the
average health of Meshed is superior to that of many Persian
towns. Though situated in very nearly the same parallel of latitude
as Teheran, and at a lower altitude ( 3,100 ft. as against 3,800 ft.),
its average temperature is lower and its rate of mortality less high.
Khaniko^^ , attributes this immunity to its situation on the northern
’f #
slope of a mountain range, by which it is shielded from the suffo
cating desert winds. The water of Meshed is abominable and quite
unfit to drink, being strongly impregnated with sulphuretted
hydrogen. I left my razor standing in a cup for one night, and
the next morning it was as black as a steel gun-barrel.
Above the level of the rooftops rise several of the badgirs, or wind-
towers, which are such a prominent feature in the maritime towns
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 [164r] (330/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213843.0x000089> [accessed 10 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