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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [130r] (266/1814)
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.
FROM KUCHAN TO KELAT-I-NADIRI
123
9
liim : but we neither saw nor heard any more of the latter. He
j
was probably the solitary representative of the Imperial Govern
ment in these parts, and did not care to assert its majesty in the
face of a numerous caravan.
October 17 .—Undeterred by the fate of his predecessor, another
guide was forthcoming this morning. For an hour we were occu-
Boighor to pi ec l i n climbing and descending the ridge immediately to
Vardeh ^ n0 rth of Maresh; and then, facing due northwards,
we struck the track from Meshed to Kelat, the passage of which
along a deep gorge was marked by telegraph poles and a single
wire, so loosely hung that we had frequently to dip our heads in
order to avoid being struck in the face. At this point I joined the
principal caravan route from Meshed to Kelat-i-Nadiri, which has
been followed by most English visitors to the stronghold of Nadir. 1
It runs here through a profound and narrow gorge, whose sides are
so close that in places there is only room for a single horseman to
pass between. 2 The pass is called Dahaneh-i-Zaupirzan, 3 or Old
Woman’s Gorge, any peculiarly horrible piece of country in Persia
being described, as I shall have reason again to observe later on,
by this quaint but in Persia most apposite simile. After an hour’s i
laborious marching, we emerged upon a more open valley, where
two roads diverged, to the east and to the west. I was informed
that the latter also led to Kelat, but was very rough and almost
impassable for horses, and that the other was the easier and more
ordinary way. Accordingly we turned our faces towards the sun
and struck eastwards along a rolling upland valley, having upon
our left hand the main range of the Kara Dagh (Black Mountains),
whose splintered limestone crags were dotted on their inferior
1 The Englishmen who have visited and described Kelat are as follows (Fraser,
who endeavoured to come here with Yalantush Khan from Meshed in 1834, having
been compelled to desist from the attempt) :—Colonel Val. Baker (1873), Clouds
in the East, pp. 194-210; Captain Hon. Gr. Napier (1874), Journal of the R.G.S.,
vol. xlvi. pp. 75-79, 149-150; (Sir) C. MacGregor (1875), Journey through
Khorasan, vol. ii. pp. 38-62 ; E. O’Donovan (1881), The Mere Oasis, vol. ii. p. 82;
Captain A. C. Yate (1885), ‘ Through Khorasan ’ in the Daily Telegraph, August
27, 1885. It was also visited by Mr. A. Condie-Stephen (1881), when a Secretary
of the British Legation at Teheran, but his report was not made public.
2 The lower and even more rugged portions of this tremendous defile will be
described upon my return journey to Meshed, where also I shall quote MacGregor’s
opinion as to its astonishing strength.
3 The distinction between Dahaneh and Teng, both Persian words applied to
passes, is strictly as follows : Dahaneh is the space or pass lying between the
base of two hills; Teng is a narrow defile between vertical walls of rock.
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 [130r] (266/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213843.0x000049> [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