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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [534r] (1080/1814)
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.
FROM ISFAHAN TO SHIRAZ
91
having set, made riding anything but easy and pleasant, and
caused my Persian servant to describe two complete somersaults
over the head of his tired and stumbling steed. As we ride
down this valley, we are approaching scenes of historic greatness,
and on the morrow there lies before us the exciting prospect of
a first day amid the ruined palaces and indestructible tombs of
Persia’s greatest sovereigns. At the end of the cliff wall that
borders the valley on the right, or north, are hewn in the face
of the rock the sepulchres of Darius and his fellow kings, and the
pompous bas-reliefs of Shapur. At the base of the hills on the
left lie the vanishing ruins of Istakhr, the capital of Darius.
Hound the corner of these same hills, but fronting in a westerly
direction the wide plain of Mervdasht, into which the valley we
have been descending here opens, is built out from the mountain
side the great platform that sustains the columns of Persepolis
and the shattered halls of Darius and of Xerxes. These three
sites of ancient fame will be described and examined in the
succeeding chapter, which I shall specially devote to a subject
that appertains to archaeology rather than to travel. Here I shall
proceed with the narrative of my journey. The chajpar-khaneh,
which the visitor makes his head-quarters while he inspects the
monuments of the Achaemenids, is that of Puzeh, situated at
the western extremity of the valley of the Polvar, which flows in a
deep gully just below and almost on the site of the ancient
Istakhr. Here he is within easy distance of all the ruins; and
if the blackened walls, the smoky fire-place, the mud flooring,
and the crazy, hingeless door of the bala-khaneh of the post-house
at Puzeh do not constitute an appetising domicile, at least the
wayfarer can reflect, with a positive gush of delight, that this
is the last cha'pcir-khaneh in which he will be called upon to spend
the night in Persia.
The plain of Mervdasht, over which the monarchs of the Medes
and Persians looked out as they sat in state in their marble halls,
is a flat expanse, about fifteen miles in width from north to south,
The Bund- while its south-easterly extension is said to stretch for
forty miles. Kanats and irrigation ditches, dug from
the river, intersect it in every direction, and have always rendered
it a fertile spot; though the decline of modern Persia could
not be more pertinently illustrated than by the fact that, whereas
m Le Brun’s day, not two centuries ago, it contained over eight
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 [534r] (1080/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213847.0x000051> [accessed 14 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