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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [102r] (210/1814)
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.
TRAN SCASPIA
71
on the south. Some of these subjects will require additional
treatment in later chapters. I will here limit myself to the
engineering, political, and commercial advances which have been
made since I first visited Transcaspia.
Uzun Ada is now served not only by the bi-weekly service of
the Caucasus and Mercury Company from Baku, but also by other
steamers trading from the same port and by a weekly
communi- steamer from Astrakhan, started during 1889. 1 The
theCas- 1 route via Tsaritsin and Astrakhan is now, therefore, the
pian shortest and most expeditious route from England to
Central Asia ; whilst, even if a direct steamer be not found leaving
Astrakhan for Uzun Ada, the regular service, which descends the
west coast of the Caspian to Baku and then crosses over, will con-
vev the traveller to Transcaspia as quickly as the Transcaucasian
route. In the coming winter I heard that daily boats were to ply
to and from Baku. All these facts tended to show the increasing
use that was being made both by passenger and goods traffic of the
Transcaspian line.
At the time of my visit the much-debated question of shifting
the railway terminus from Uzun Ada to Krasnovodsk had not yet
Change Of been settled, though a special commission from St.
terminns Petersburg, which was sent independently and contrary
novodsk to the wishes of General Annenkoff, reported shortly
afterwards m favour of the change, which has consequently been
authorised by the Ministry of War. There could be little doubt
that this must be the ultimate solution, Krasnovodsk being recom
mended by its superior depth of water (twenty to twenty-five feet
instead of only twelve to fourteen feet), by its more abundant, 01 ,
at any rate, less infinitesimal fresh-water supply, and by the shorter
crossing to Baku. In view, moreover, of the certain commercial
development and the probable military requirements of the Trans
caspian Railway, and of the extension of the Caspian mercantile
marine already produced by the growth of Baku, and likely to be
much increased if the port of Petrofsk (like Baku, a deep-watei
harbour) were connected by rail with the European system, it was
almost absurd either to suppose or to contend that the Asiatic poi t
1 The companies, in addition to the Caucasus and Mercury Company, who trade
with their own steamers between the Russian ports on the Caspian and Uzun
Ada are as follows : The Lebed Steamship Company, the Caspian and Drujina
Steamship Company, the Masis Steamship Company, Messrs. Kamenski Brothers
and the Kousis and Prophylaktos Company.
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 [102r] (210/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213843.0x000011> [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