Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [292v] (587/1814)
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.
362
PERSIA
immense variety of forest timber that clothes these spurs and valle
with its shaggy mantle. The trees are mostly deciduous ; and there
3 . Forest liave been reported by different travellers, the oak
belt elm, plane, maple, ash, lime, box, walnut, beech, juniper'
yew. Wild vines wreathe the tree-stems and clamber among the
branches. Wild hops, wild figs, plums, pears, and apples abound
Wild strawberries are met with everywhere; and while honeysuckle
wild briar, and roses deck the undergrowth, in which are seen
laurels, hawthorn, and box, the forest floor is carpeted in spring
time with primroses, violets, and other sylvan flowers. It will be
observed that this flora is in no sense tropical, but is such as
might be encountered in any southerly temperate zone. The
comparison, therefore, with the East or West Indies, which is
naturally suggested by the climate, is in reality a faulty one. The
vegetation is rather that of Southern Europe, to which special
atmospheric conditions, presently to be explained, have superadded
a humidity rarely met with out of the tropics. Wild animals
abound in this region, just as they do in the low-lying jungle
and on the greater altitudes. Tigers of great size are common,
and play havoc with the cattle, though they rarely attack a human
being. Leopards, wolves, bears, wild boar, jackals, lynxes, different
varieties of deer, wild sheep and wild goats, are among the larger
game, and in the Turkoman desert wild donkeys and gazelles ;
pheasants and woodcock among the smaller ; whilst in the morasses
and on the lagoons, as I have previously indicated in speaking of
Eesht, are to be found swarms of wild fowl, duck, and snipe.
It is in this third belt, and principally on its lower slopes, that
occur the towns and largest centres of population. Hidden, one
Towns and ma ^ literally say buried, amid the trees, they are entered
tion 1Va i "! 16 traveller almost before he is aware that he has
left the forest. It is difficult for him to say whether he
is in a village or in a great town, so overtopped and submerged
is everything with the foliage, not merely of natural plantation,
but of orchards and gardens rich in every variety of fruit. I have
already mentioned the wild fruits that grow unasked in the wooded
depths. In cultivated ground may be produced oranges, lemons,
citrons, pomegranates, peaches, melons, medlars, quinces, and
olives. In fact, it would be difficult in temperate regions to name
a tiact more favoured by Nature for purposes of production. It is
in country of this character that the silkworm was cultivated, and
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 [292v] (587/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213844.0x0000c2> [accessed 5 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
![Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎292v] (587/1814) Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎292v] (587/1814)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/Mss Eur F111_33_0598.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg)