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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [97v] (201/1814)
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.
62
PERSIA
at Baku, can pass it on here to similar cars waiting to transport
it to Batum, thereby escaping the extra mileage, the wear and
tear of rolling stock, and the consumption of time on the extra
ordinarily steep gradients between.
Bradshaw’s Continental Railway Guide, in the few lines which
it devotes to Batum, says that ‘ no custom duties are levied here 7
Russian ^ should like the
writer
The lowest of the four classes into which East India Company civil servants were divided. A Writer’s duties originally consisted mostly of copying documents and book-keeping.
of that paragraph to make the
Custom sea-journey to Batum, and to repeat this confident
assurance to the polite but inexorable Russian official
who will board his vessel before he is permitted to land. The only
way by which the severity of that individual can be in any degree
relaxed is by taking, as far as possible, an old or second-hand
instead of a new travelling equipment.
The extent of the foreign trade which is now conducted with
Batum may be judged by the fact that, in 1889, 417 foreign, i.e.
Trade and non-Russian, steamers entered the port, of which 214
harbour were British, representing a registered tonnage of 268,781
out of 480,21^ tons. The total of petroleum exported in 1889
was 649,085 tons, with a value of 3,023,300/., as compared with
450,326 tons, with a value of 1,724,446/., in the preceding year
In 1889 the export to India, China, and Japan, of which I have
spoken, and the figures of which were infinitesimal in 1887, rose
to 935,822/., a total which suggests to England the urgent necessity
ot developing, if possible, her own sources of supply in Beluchi-
stan, India, and Burmah. In Russian hands the port of Batum
hitherto not a particularly good one, except for the great depth
of water close up to the shore, is being rapidly improved. A mole
had been built on the inner side of the north breakwater during
the past year, and is to be fortified by a turret at the end; piles
were being sunk ab round the shore-line, which will be fitted with
a stone quay and it is ultimately intended to carry forward an
additional breakwater from the lighthouse on the south till it over
laps the pier on the north. The entire cost of these harbour
improvements is estimated at about half a million sterling, which
wdl be borne by the Imperial Government. Lately (Octobe! 1891)
rtd t P f m “ P T ^ tlle trad “g Pot is to k trans
fer ed to Poti, where great docks will be constructed, while Batum
BlLlTifitt: 1 " 17 ^ ^ - d - arsenal.
Strategical requirements are, indeed, far from being neglected
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 [97v] (201/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213843.0x000008> [accessed 4 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