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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [622r] (1260/1814)
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 SHIRAZ TO BUSHIRE
235
!
I
V
western side is intended by nature, and was formerly used, as a
harbour, there being deep water close up to the town. A bar,
however, has formed opposite its entrance, and boats drawing over
ten feet of water cannot pass. The use of a dredger, and the
expenditure of a few hundred pounds, would remedy this, without
the need of any costly piers or structure ; and the impotence of the
Persian Government in this respect lends an additional argument
to those who contend that Great Britain should not have evacuated
Bushire, for the retention of which the Persians thoroughly ex
pected us to stipulate, in 1857. Of the trade of the port I shall
speak in subsequent chapters upon the Gulf, and upon Persian
Commerce. I may here say that in 1889 the customs were sold by
the Saad-el-Mulk for 91,000
tomans
10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value.
, or 26,0001. + 5,000
tomans
10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value.
, or
1,400L, pishkesh, i.e. present to himself; the farmer also making a
large profit, so that the actual amount levied upon imports and
exports was greatly in excess of this sum.
About six miles to the south of the town are the ruins of the
old Portuguese fort of Reshire. 1 This was no doubt the earliest
settlement on the peninsula of Mesambria ; for in the
Ecsliire
mounds here have been found bricks with cuneiform
characters, and other remains of a considerable antiquity. 2 The
Portuguese established a trading station and built a fort here in
the sixteenth century, but were turned out by the Persians after
the capture of Ormuz in 1622. The fort was repaired in 1856,
and occupied by Persian troops, who made a gallant but ineffectual
resistance against the British, the latter losing four officers in the
attack. It covers a quadrangular space, 250 yards in diameter, and
the ramparts still retain a steep and lofty profile, and the remains
1 Onseley suggests the impossible derivation Reis shehr, i.e. chief or captain
of cities. It might be Ras-shehr (cape of the city) or Rig-shehr. General Schindler
explains it as Riv-Ardeshir.
2 The principal of these are a number of old sculptured tombstones, probably
of the Arab period (vide Morier’s Second Journey, p. 45) ; and an immense collec
tion of stone and earthenware vases of rude shape and fabrication, sealed up with
earthenware lids or with coverings of talc, sometimes lined inside with a coating
of bitumen, and containing human skulls and bones. A great number of these
have been found between Bushire and Reshire, at a depth of about two feet below
the surface, usually placed horizontally in a long line, one after the other. The
jars are about three feet in length and one foot in diameter. They are supposed
to have contained the remains of Zoroastrians, after the body had perished by
exposure.— Vide Ouseley, vol. i. p. 217, and Colonel Johnson, Journey from India,
pp. 19-20.
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 [622r] (1260/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213848.0x00003d> [accessed 27 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