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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [272v] (547/1814)
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.
PERSIA
328
cover the whole with a dome, the Shah, it is said, having been so
much impressed with the Albert Hall in London, as to long for a
reproduction in Teheran; but the substructure v as found to be
inadequate to the burden. Accordingly, these spans were thrown
across and awnings are stretched over them when the play is acted
in the heat of the day; the precise counterpart of the velarium of
the Roman amphitheatre. As the drama is prolonged into the
evening, light is gained from thousands of candles fixed in lustres
against the walls. The electric light was introduced for a time,
but is said to have been abandoned or to have proved a failure.
Such are the main features of the Royal Palace at Teheran. 1 I
have described them at some length, as they are eloquently typical
The re- of the life of mingled splendour and frippery, and of the
mainder taste, half cultured and half debased, of the Persian
monarch and, it may be said, of the Persian aristocracy in general.
It is shocking, for instance, to our eye, but not to a Persian’s, to
see this beautiful garden, which Nature has co-operated with
ingenious art to render pleasing, surrounded by hideous daubs of
Persian soldiers painted upon the plaster walls, with the exaggerated
disregard of all verisimilitude or proportion that might be expected
of a street urchin who had stolen a brush and a pot of paint. In
different parts of this building must be stored away an infinity of
presents and works of art in addition to those which I saw. For
in this century alone the various embassies who competed so
gallantly, and it must also be said so extravagantly, for the favour
of Fath Ali Shah, brought with them a mass of European objects
and curiosities, from panelled coaches down to mechanical toys,
not one tithe of which are exposed to view in the State apartments.
Many, no doubt, have never been looked at since the day on which
they were presented : or, having been playthings for a week, have
been relegated to lumber rooms for a lifetime.
For a great capital Teheran is singularly destitute of those
immense^religious edifices, whether mosques or madressehs, which
tower, too often in a state of utter ruin, above the house-
tops of most Oriental towns. The reason is that, only
having become a capital, so to speak, in later life, the city has
found no patron to endow it with the great structures that have
immortalised the seats of government of earlier kings. Fath Ali
1 The test description of the Palace that I have seen is by Orsolle, Ze Caucase
et la Perse, cap. xvi.
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 [272v] (547/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213844.0x00009a> [accessed 4 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