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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [684v] (1385/1814)
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
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334 PERSIA
The boat at first employed was the ‘ Blosse Lynch,’ a fine paddle
steamer employed in the Tigris navigation between Bnsrah and
Baghdad. She was found, however, to be both too long for the
abrupt bends and zigzags of the Karun, and of too deep a draught
to pass over the shoals in low water. Accordingly, after running
for some months, she was replaced by the c Shushan,’ a smaller
stern-wheel boat, with three rudders to allow of her answering
very quickly to the helm. The latter was one of seven or eight
boats built by Yarrow, of Poplar, for the English Government at
the time of the Nile expedition, bat never apparently used for that
purpose. Some of them were sold to Messrs. Cook for pleasure-
boats on the Nile, while the ‘ Shushan ’ found its way to the Karun.
She was supposed to be able to steam from ten to twelve knots an
hour, but against a current running four miles could not certainly
manage more than four. It was in the ‘ Shushan ’ that I ascended
the river as far as Ahwaz. She was subsequently, in the spring of
1890, taken up the rapids in flood-time, and has since plied on one
or other of the upper channels to Shushter. Advantage of the
Karun concession was also originally taken by the Bombay and
Persia Steam Navigation Company, who, for a short time, ran a
small steamer named the ; Iran ’ up the river; but, finding that
they obtained no return, gave up the experiment. Messrs. Lynch
Brothers have, in spite of a steady loss, continued the service up
to the present time, and in the face of the greatest difficulties have
laid the foundations of what it is to be hoped may become an
important and lucrative trade in the future.
Having thus disposed of the preliminaries necessary to a com
prehension of what follows, I now proceed to a record of my own
The Shat- journey. One hundred and seventeen miles after leaving
el-Arab Bushire, the British India steamer which navigates the
Persian Gulf
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
, sailing from Bombay to Busrah, drops anchor for a
while off the mouth of the Shat-el-Arab, until the rising tide
shall admit of her passing over the bar. At high water there is a
good eighteen feet upon the bar, but the tide rises and falls as
much as from eight to ten feet, and vessels at all heavily laden
have invariably to cut their way through a shifting bottom of mud,
, while they sometimes stick fast for days. No effort appears to be
made to keep open a channel by dredging or other artificial means
—an apt reminder that we are on the brink of Ottoman jurisdic
tion—and the present passage solved the difficulty by arbitrarily
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 [684v] (1385/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213848.0x0000ba> [accessed 10 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