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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [228v] (459/1814)
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.
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skeletons for eighteen miles. A stretch of several miles across the
I0Y0I brought us to the station of y^afaiam. fheie was once a
magnificent
caravanserai
A roadside inn providing accommodation for caravans (groups of travellers).
here, reported to be the largest in Persia.
The Persians, eager for a fantastic interpretation wherever it can
be suggested, explain the title (yellow or saffron) by a legend of a
certain rich merchant who, when building the stiucture, mixed
with the bricks some saffron which he had bought out of charity
from a poor man, and which was forthwith converted by a miracle
into gold dust, that is supposed to have glittered in the bricks ever
afterwards. 1 The building, which is said once to have contained
1,700 rooms, besides baths, shops, and gardens (all of which have
disappeared), has been attributed by some travellers to Shah Abbas.
But Khanikoff very appositely pointed out that the style and the
inscriptions in the Kufic character alike referred it to the Arab
period, and he conj ecturally placed its foundation in the reign of
the Seljuk Malek Shah. Upon its ruins a fine modern
caravanserai
A roadside inn providing accommodation for caravans (groups of travellers).
was built by the public-spirited Sadr Azem before mentioned. From
Zafarani the road leads across the Sebzewar plain at no great dis
tance from the mountains on the north, until the city of that name
is reached. The entire town, whose central street is a verv long-
covered bazaar (newly constructed when Conolly passed through in
1830), must be traversed before we arrive at the chajoar-hhaneh,
close to the western gate.
Sebzewar (i.e. green-having) is the capital of a district of some
fertility, which suffered terribly in the famine of 1871, and is only
now beginning to raise its head again. Before that year
the population of the city was estimated at 30,000. It
Sebzewar
sank at once to less than 10,000, but is now said to have mounted
to 18,000. The town is surrounded by the usual wall of mud
bricks, and on the north is commanded by a ruined ark or citadel on
a mound. The legendary foundation of Sebzewar, it is needless to
say, goes far back into the past, but its historical birth is more justly
attributed to the Seljuk dynasty, the style of whose architecture
can be detected in certain of its remains. Like most of its neigh
bours, it has been several times destroyed ; Timur completing in
1380 a.d. the operation which Mohammed Shah of Kharezm had
left imperfectly done. Whatever of prosperity it subsequently
regained was obliterated in true Afghan fashion by the Afghan
Different versions of this legend are related by Fraser, pp. 385-386; Ferrier,
pp. 102-103 ; and Eastwick, vol. ii. p. 180.
L I
iii
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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 [228v] (459/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213844.0x000042> [accessed 10 July 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