![Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎277r] (556/1814)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/Mss Eur F111_33_0567.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎277r] (556/1814)")
Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [277r] (556/1814)
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.
h of thirty
'ts run into
and sealed
en Oriental
J •
le of 3,800
□in, winter,
and, when
ail, there is
3 life under
’able. But
ence of the
•ed that the
sion. I do
Be Russian
) the north-
;in ; and, if
passed, she
alternative
main range
; of defence
id, as I have
) come from
hah be able
3 of a capital
or cen-
teading
in this
it little
apitals,
f which
in close
ith, the
paire to
tpost to
ie event
ill hack,
setter or
v site, 1
Race
course
^ ^ v_.y
JU y J^TTr -t / ^ TEHERAN n _ 337 /
/jTux JL "'A - \.j /^-vjCL-c-v i
should regard such a movement as the voluntary abandonment of a ^
strategical position of no mean advantage, and as an encouragement
to Muscovite cupidity.
Among other semi-European attractions of Teheran at the time
of my visit was the possession of a racecourse and an annual race
meeting. It is true that in neither respect were European
standards rigorously maintained. For instance, there was
no turf; but, as a Persian horse seldom, if ever, treads upon turf in
the course of a life-time, it would clearly have been superfluous to
humour him on this solitary occasion. The gravelly plain outside the
city, which is flat enough and big enough to race upon for a whole
day without stopping, accordingly answered the purpose very well.
Nor was there a ‘ ring ’ at Teheran, betting being an imprudent
venture when the winner was so uniformly apt to be drawn from
the stable of the sovereign. The jockeys were small boys, clad in
loose trousers and coloured tunics. The races were of various
lengths, the most important being the longest, which completed
the circuit of the wall no fewer than six times. Eastwick, who
has left the most minute account of the Teheran race-meeting
that I know, 1 measured the course, and found it to be two miles
minus thirty and a half yards in circumference; so that eleven and
three-quarter miles was the length of what 1 might call the ‘ Cup
course ' at Teheran. This distance he saw covered in what seems
to me the very respectable time of twenty-six minutes twenty-
nine seconds. It must be remembered that in a country where
all movement is on horseback, and where very long distances
require to be covered by that means, endurance is of greater
average value than speed. Nor do the Persians, so far as I know,
advance the ludicrous defence of short-distance speed-tests with
which we are familiar in countries nearer home—that they are
indispensable to improve the breed of the native animal.
In no respect are Teheran and its environs more peculiar, and
in no fashion can the nature and circumstance of Eastern royalty
be better typified, than in the number of royal palaces
and country seats which may almost be said to crowd
the suburbs of the capital. It is as though all the present and past
royal residences in the neighbourhood of London—Kew, Hampton
Court, Chiswick, and Greenwich Hospital, were kept for the sole use
of the sovereign, and in his or her absence were allowed to fall
1 Journal of a Diplomate, vol. i. pp. 263-270.
VOL. I. Z
Negaristan
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 [277r] (556/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213844.0x0000a3> [accessed 15 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