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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎95v] (197/1814)

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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58
PERSIA
CHAPTER III
FROM LONDON TO ASHKABAD
I to the Orient from the drooping West,
Making the wind my post-horse, still unfold
The acts commenced on this ball of earth.
Shakspeare, Induction to Henry IV., Part II
It was in the latter part of September 1889 that I left Paris by the
new Orient express which, after leaving Pesth, runs via Belgrade,
fromParis ® ofia, and ^ rian0 P leto Constantinople. Through Serna'
to Con- Bulgaria, and Turkey the pace was little better than a
stantmopie ci'awl, but nevertheless the terminus was reached in time.
There can be no doubt that the journey, which now takes sixtv-
nine and a half hours, and which I have again made since under
similarly irritating conditions, could without difficulty be ac
celerated by at least six or eight hours, a suggestion which it seems
useless to commend to the directors of the lines concerned The
discomforts of arrival at Constantinople and departure therefrom
are we mown, and have tested the patience of many travellers.
But the horrors of the boat-landing, which could be assuaged by
bubes, are as nothing compared with those of the Customs exami-
T Ti r now P ursued w ith a merciless incivility that only
m vis i o cials can display, at the newly opened railway station at
S ambul. I was the bearer of a courier’s passport and was met by
an Embassy at the station. But notwithstanding these evi-
ouartm- r ? SP 7 1 WSS detained tllere for hour and a
mid ref n 6 1 eSSly OTerllMled > “y stores, accumulated
^Hini 7 T T P6rSiai1 traVel > Were broken ffito, and a box
Ston for c I 7 P 168 WlliCh 1 WaS takin g 0ut as gifts in
rtriuml It / n Pei r a ’ haVing been pounced upon, was hailed
mulcted bv a 1 T "TrT 11 Slmster dls guise, and was immediately
it is en Wed ! SyStem ’ or rat her the manner in which
from CoIl2t “r 1 ! ^ ’ tl ' aVell6rS ai ' e m ° re likel J ^ be repelled
fiom Constantinople than attracted to it by the overland route.

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
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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎95v] (197/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213843.0x000004> [accessed 8 June 2026]

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