![Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎86r] (178/1814)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/Mss Eur F111_33_0189.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎86r] (178/1814)")
Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [86r] (178/1814)
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.
WAYS AND MEANS
39
Ka„
Il ‘ Wot,^
!emb le Sa
Pe ‘ Itiss
ltone s have
levelled
Parts mjg
• And y e
en 6401. a
ll iged or oi
central p 0
ed Prevot
he c/iapar m;
oad, the chap.
or Kliwajal,
011 this route,
from Teheran,
nanieh, belong,
ttlier, Path Ali
ie Karij, a fine
tins, and whose
?ry morning to
ds by Abdnllali
«/
ajar sovereigns,
obammed Shall
ly be conducteJ
vazyin and the
season of the
on of so man;
roomer that he
mi unication h
irched this way on
iy , 1812 (Morier’^
’rom and ^ or
ict of Suleima#
ick, Jourwd of ■
not exist, but where he can, as a rule, adopt pretty well what line
lie pleases in getting from place to place. The absence of any
boundary marks between properties, and of hedges or ditches
(except irrigation ditches) between arable plots, the wide stony
plains over which one may gallop in any direction foi miles, and
the choice in many cases of a number of passes through the moun
tain ranges, leave the traveller in Persia a greater freedom of
movement than in any other inhabited country in the woild. By
the carriage road, which is usually followed, the time occupied
upon the entire journey from Resht to Teheran will be, according
to the rate of progress in the earlier stages on horseback, from
three to four days.
Such is the main and the easiest avenue of approach to the
Persian capital from the Caspian. Under peculiarly favourable
Length of conditions, and with a perfect correspondence of tiains
journey anc ^ steamers, the journey from London to Teheran can
be accomplished in a fortnight. In the majority of cases it occu
pies a little less than three weeks. I pass now to the overland
routes which enter Persia from the north-west, and have for their
immediate objective the commercial capital Tabriz, Teheran being
reached therefrom, vice Kazvin, by a postal road whose length from
Tabriz is about 360 miles.
Of these routes there are two, of which the one is taken by
caravans laden with other than Russian merchandise, and, in ordei
II. Trebi- to escape the prohibitory tariffs of Batum and the
Tabriz freight charges of the Transcaucasian Railway, starts
route from the Turkish port of Trebizond, in the south-east
corner of the Black Sea, following from there a very steep line of
country, 500 miles in length, to Tabriz. This route, as I shall
subsequently show in a chapter upon the commerce of Persia, has
been somewhat extensively adopted by English trade during the last
half-century, and particularly since the final abolition by Russia of
the free transit across the Caucasus in 1883, and is unquestionably
the shortest way by which merchandise can reach Tabriz. It is not
likely, however, to be followed by the traveller, unless he is anxious
to visit the Turkish fortress of Erzerum en route, or to pursue a
local examination of the Kurdish or the Armenian Question. 1
1 It is described by Lieut.-Col. . Stuart (1835), Journal of a Residence in N.
Persia, pp. 76-138; Ch. Texier (1839), Description de VArmenie, la Perse, S>c.,
vols.i.pi.; M. Wagner (1843), Travels in Persia, vols. ii.,iii., part iii.; Arm. Vambery
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 [86r] (178/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213842.0x0000b9> [accessed 14 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