![Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎220r] (442/1814)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/Mss Eur F111_33_0453.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎220r] (442/1814)")
Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [220r] (442/1814)
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 MESHED TO TEHERAN 259
Wolff, travelling for the first time to Meshed, so narrowly escaped
being taken a prisoner by a band of wild Hazaras. There is a
small village round the
caravanserai
A roadside inn providing accommodation for caravans (groups of travellers).
, and the chajpar-hhaneh stands
hard by.
There was no sun in the early morning, and a cold white mist
lan shivering along the mountains. Two hours after starting we
Corpse- passed the village and
caravanserai
A roadside inn providing accommodation for caravans (groups of travellers).
of Sultanabad, where
caravans . m y baggage horse, seeing his opportunity, bolted down
the intricate alleys of the village, and we had quite a game of hide
and seek before we could drive him out again. There were many
hundreds of travellers upon the road, chiefly going Meshed-way,
and ah or nearly all on horseback, a sign of greater affluence than
the employment of a donkey. I was on the look-out for coffins of
defunct Shiahs on their way to the great necropolis of Meshed;
and from the descriptions of previous travellers recognised the
ghastly burden as soon as I saw it. Some that X passed were
wrapped in black felt, and slung on either side of donkeys.
One man, however, was carrying a very long coffin in front of him on
his saddle-bow, and must have had moments of strange emotion.
Sometimes a regular corpse-caravan is met, which has been
chartered to convey so many score of departed Shiahs to their
final resting-place. But as frequently an amateur carrier is
encountered, who, to pay the expenses of his own journey and leave
a little for amusement at the end, contracts to carry the corpse of
some wealthier fellow-citizen or friend. It was a long and stony
and fatiguing ride to the next post-house at Kadamgah.
At Kadamgah the Behrud route from Meshed descends from
the mountains on to the plain and joins that upon which I
Kadamgah travelled - Tlie nam e means ‘ the place of the step,’ the
tradition being that the Imam Reza halted here on his
way to Tus, and, m order to convince the local fire-worshippers of
his superiority, left the imprint of his foot upon a black stone,
which became a ziarat gall, or place of pilgrimage, ever afterwards. 1
Over the sacred spot a mosque was raised, not, as Eastwick says,
by Shah Abbas, but by Shah Suleiman, and the sanctity of the
site has led to its being peopled by a colony of seyids, who are as
1 There is another Kadamgah near Persepolis, in the province of Ears, so
called from the alleged footprint of All’s horse on a slab of rock. Captain Wells,
Proceedings of the R.G.S. (New Series), vol. v. (1883). Some Sassanian sculp
tures near Shiraz were also called Kadamgah by the seventeenth century writers.
s 2
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
Use and share this item
- Share this item
Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [220r] (442/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213844.0x000031> [accessed 4 June 2026]
https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100157213844.0x000031
Copy and paste the code below into your web page where you would like to embed the image.
<meta charset="utf-8"><a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100157213844.0x000031">Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎220r] (442/1814)</a> <a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100157213844.0x000031"> <img src="https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/Mss Eur F111_33_0453.jp2/full/!280,240/0/default.jpg" alt="" /> </a>
This record has a IIIF manifest available as follows. If you have a compatible viewer you can drag the icon to load it.https://www.qdl.qa/en/iiif/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/manifestOpen in Universal viewerOpen in Mirador viewerMore options for embedding images
Copyright: How to use this content
- 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