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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [340r] (682/1814)
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.
an
anj
^ heir master t
1Ch th at co n eCat!9
^ Plunder >
US SWa «u of
T %.« i 1 ^
Ve r create ^ es
rate household 0 f
ld de P a rtment, ouo
ei '{ “ inister - ev etJ
‘fedbyani^
iks, secretaries, anj
^ labo ^; confusiou
8 enor mous staff 0 f
i oduces no statistics;
^ions either do not
>tive shape. Ttere
nate estimate of so
untry. The figures
n have been derived
■ect in themselves, I
r how faritislegiti-
ron Teufenstein,tlie
)efore quoted, tks
er and some scribes,
f the apparatus tbat
i is set up at what-
i his house, or in an
reliance in the street
liter the chief on all
he necessary writing
e can be rigged up
ch a mirza are often
it, consisting of
vate, and in no sw®
the reforms ^
ie adminis^ 10 " 01
ize), 18B5.
THE GOVERNMENT
451
Saveh during his year of office, were cancelled upon his resignation, 1
and that at the same time the improved state of the province was
made a ground for screwing a higher pishhesh out of his suc
cessor.
I have already pointed out that the bulk of this bureaucratic
horde are not paid by the State, but are expected to remunerate
Salaries themselves, and that for the same reason the salaries of
and titles the higher officials are fixed at a notoriously inadequate
figure. A further characteristic results from the combined disloca
tion and parsimony of the system, viz. that even the fixed and official
salaries are frequently in arrears, or are not paid at all. Europeans
m the seivice of the State are better paid or more regularly paid
than Persians, because, if they do not get their salaries, they are
apt to send in their resignations. But even they have often been
put off with bauds, or orders, payable some weeks or months from
date, on some merchant in the bazaar • whilst the native official is
frequently without even this compensation, and in the absence of
any sign of an impending settlement of his little account with the
State, makes up the deficit from other quarters. How fatally this
condition of affairs operates in the case of the army will be seen
later on. In somewhat ludicrous contrast with this sordid and de
spicable system are the brave and sonorous titles that are worn by
the official hierarchy of whom I have been speaking. As will have
been gathered from my narrative, ministers, or functionaries of any
position, are seldom called by their proper names, but are known
by the ornamental titles that have been conferred upon them by
the Shah. . These titles are much sought after, inasmuch as they
confer distinction, security, and the opportunity of lucre. They
are divided into three classes: those with the suffix Sultaneh i e
of the Government, which are rarely conferred except upon
members of the Royal Family; those with the suffix Dowleh, of the
Empire or State; and those with the suffix Mulk, of the Kino-dom
It is to be feared that the majority of their owners think of P little
else but plundering the government, state, or kingdom of which
they are grandiloquently described as the Ornament, Support,
Defence, Pillar, or Strength.
p a s ismiss i because he
naa already paid m. But this does not appear to be true.
g a 2
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 [340r] (682/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213845.0x000059> [accessed 5 April 2025]
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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