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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎89r] (184/1814)

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. .

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WAYS AND MEANS
45
Barfurusli 5 * or wlionco an mdopondent lino can 1)6 pursued to
Astrabad (23 miles), and thence over terribly steep passes (65
miles), to Shahrud, where the main caravan and postal
Teheran route is struck between Teheran and Khorasan. I shall
route require to deal so fully with all these places later on,
that I will do no more at present than indicate tins as a possible
variation in entering the country.
Further to the east, the Transcaspian Failway, recently com
pleted by Russia in her newly conquered regions north of the
Persian border, and the road which she has constructed
baa- Ashka " i n correspondence therewith from Ashkabad, her ad-
Meshed ministrative and military capital, to the boundary of
Khorasan, and which is being continued on the other
or Persian side to Kuchan and Meshed, has within the last two
years supplied a new means of access to North-eastern Persia,
which did not previously exist, or could not be pursued with safety.
The fact that no description of this new road into Khorasan had
yet been published, coupled with my own desire to see something
of the border regions of that important province, and to visit its
capital, Meshed, determined me to enter Persia, if possible, from
this novel quarter. English officers serving at Meshed had more
than once received permission to quit or to return to their posts
by this route; and, having already travelled on the Transcaspian
Railway in the preceding year, I indulged in hopes that the
Russian Government would not be averse to renew the permission,
which indeed there could be no valid ground for refusing. The
courtesy of the Russian Ambassador in London, assisted by the
kindly offices of the British Ambassador in St. Petersburg, happily
effected this object, and the ensuing pages will contain a de
scription of my journey, which I need not now anticipate.
Upon the eastern borders of Persia no English traveller is now
verv likely to think of entering the country. The intervention of
^ Afghanistan between India and Persia in this quarter,
giianap- and the merciless policy of exclusion pursued by the
proaches Abdur Rahman Khan, render it absolutely impos
sible for any Englishman to dream of approaching Persia from this
side. In bygone centuries we read of many European voyagers
1 This route has been described by (Sir) A. Burnes (1832), Travels into
Bokhara, vol. iii. pp. 105-114; E. B. Eastwick (1862), Journal of a Diplomate,
vol. ii. pp. 60-101 ; Col. Yah Baker (1873), Clouds in the Hast, pp. 70-77.

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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
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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎89r] (184/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213842.0x0000bf> [accessed 11 June 2026]

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