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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [429v] (861/1814)
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.
608
PERSIA
far the best exhibition. They were composed of fine stalwart fellows,
well built and powerful, and with a higher average of stature, in
all probability, than any British regiment of the line. But the
equipment of the greater number, and the marching, were deplor
able in the extreme, and it was sad to see such good stuff so hope
lessly misused. 1
Elsewhere on the road from Meshed to Teheran I met a regi
ment of several hundred men on the march. From van to rear it
must have struggled over a length of road of about six
Regiments
on the
march
miles. The men were in every nondescript variety of
costume, with casual fragments or interpolations of uni
form showing between. They shambled along on foot in singles,
couples, or groups, their arms, kit, and cooking-pots in the case of
the less poor being packed upon asses, in that of the majority being
carried on their own backs. -A. few led horses and camels were
employed to carry some of the camp equipment. The officers, in
mufti, were encountered at intervals, leisurely ambling on mediocre
steeds. In the absence of any provision for transport or commis
sariat, regiments on the march help themselves as best they can
from the country or villages which they traverse. They are conse
quently regarded as an unmitigated curse by the peasants, and
my native servant told me at Yezdikhast that on a former occasion
when he visited the place he found the plank bridge withdrawn
and the village in a state of triumphant isolation, owing to the
passage of a Persian regiment, against whose exactions the in
habitants protected themselves in this thoroughly mediaeval fashion.
Sir H. Layard was at Hamadan in 1840, just after a Persian army
had passed that way, and the picture drawn by him of devastated
fields, pillaged bazaars, ransacked dwellings, and cut-down orchards
justified his concluding remark that ‘ Hamadan looked as if it had
been taken and sacked in war. 5 2 It was the same practice, a cen-
1 I can see neither honesty nor wisdom in repaying the courtesy of the
Naib-es-Sultaneh, which I have acknowledged, by a conversation such as the fol
lowing, that took place between a French officer, the compagnon de voyage of
M. Orsolle, and H.R.H. (Le Caucase et la Perse, p. 277) :—
N.-e.-S. ‘ What do you think of the Persian army ? ’
F. 0. ‘I have been astonished at the regularity and precision of the Infantry
manoeuvres. Under your Highness’ direction, the army has made surprising pro
gress.’
N.-e.-S. 4 What do you think of Teheran ? ’
F. 0. ‘ It is a magnificent city.’
2 Early Adventures, pp. 248, 275.
filitary
admits-
tration
clothing are i
in which the
jure irregular army,
not exist on the face
dress, arms, ammumtio
Hits conduct were not
For the lamentable
system, and not the in d:
tary administration fall
tionin Teheran, preser
same vices. A smart,
deception and fraud, a
tie vitals of the servic
and to organisation,
taght and sold. If
tidier has even to
Mucted by bis sup e ]
poaching punctual
tie Per'
ttsian forces woul
Seethe army is r
'1 ^generates on
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VOL.
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 [429v] (861/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213846.0x000044> [accessed 6 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