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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [70r] (146/1814)
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.
INTRODUCTORY
7
arms to the walls of Byzantium. Then fell the sword of Omar
and the devouring flame of the Koran. In the ensuing ages
great names—Avicenna (Abu-ibn-Sena), Firdusi, Omar-el-Khayam,
Sadi, and Hafiz—adorned her literary annals, and have left her a
legacy of imperishable renown. Finally a native dynasty and a
naturalised religion appeared; and the name of Shah Abbas the
Great is to this hour associated with anything that is durable or
grandiose during the last three centuries of Persian history. A
record of inferior names, of internecine conflict and international
struggle, in the course of which Russia and England enter upon
the scene, brings us down to the present time, when a dominion,
greatly contracted, but withal much consolidated, acknowledges a
Turkish dynasty, and parades before the world the now familiar
figure of Nasr-ed-Din Shah. If Persia had no other claim to
respect, at least a continuous national history for 2,500 years is a
distinction which few countries can exhibit.
There is, further, in the special connection of Persia with this
nation at different epochs, and more especially during the present
century, a claim upon Englishmen’s attention which no
student of his country’s history should be willing to
ignore. As long ago as the reign of Edward I. an
accredited plenipotentiary was deputed from Great Britain to the
court of the Mongol sovereign Arghun, in whose dominions Persia
was included. Nearly three centuries later an envoy bore letters
from Queen Elizabeth to the second Sefavi monarch. An ambas
sador from Charles I. reached Persia only to die. In the sixteenth
and again in the seventeenth centuries gallant attempts were made
by British agents to establish a trade with Persia by the north of
Europe and the Caspian. Between the two periods the growing
maritime ascendency of Great Britain had opened to her first a
share, and presently the control, of the commerce of the Persian
Gulf. Finally, with the dawn of the present century, emerged a
policy of close Anglo-Persian relationship, which, though twice
suspended by diplomatic rupture, and once by war, has remained
in existence ever since; which has given birth to a few deservedly
great reputations; and which, though it has been signalised by
many follies and by some shame, by spasms of prodigal concern
succeeded by intervals of unreasoning apathy, has yet bound the
two nations in a closer bond of political interest than unites this
country with any other independent sovereignty in Asia.
Anglo-
Persian
connection
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 [70r] (146/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213842.0x000099> [accessed 22 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