![Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎103v] (213/1814)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/Mss Eur F111_33_0224.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎103v] (213/1814)")
Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [103v] (213/1814)
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.
74
PERSIA
troops could not, owing to the sinuous channel, be towed up stream
by the two steamers, the ‘ Czar ? and £ Czaritsa.’ Furthermore at
Oxus Fiat time the normal period consumed by the steamers
Flotilla i n reaching Kerki, a distance of only 140 miles, was a
week. This seems, however, to have been since reduced, in the
case of the up-stream journey, to four days, and of the down
stream journey to three days, the boats in neither case proceeding
by night. Further improvements will be required before the river
navigation can be of much commercial value in transporting
merchandise to or from Afghanistan; whilst it will be still longer
before, as a strategical auxiliary, it adds much to the offensive
strength of Russia in Central Asia.
As regards Merv, and the heroic measures that I found in
progress a year before for the resuscitation of the Merv Oasis by the
Merv irri- reconstruction of the Sultan Bund across the Murghah
the SuHan thirty-five miles above modern Merv, and the irrigation
Bund 0 f the property which is administered out of the private
purse of the Czar, I heard disparaging remarks, which threw
doubt upon the ultimate success of the undertaking. It was said
that the Murghab was found not to hold sufficient water to admit
of irrigation or canalisation on any largely extended scale; while
the evaporation from the lake above the dam was expected to
exhaust the bulk of its contents. On the other hand, an English
Engineer officer, visiting the works not long afterwards, was, I be
lieve, most favourably impressed both with the skill and with the
work already accomplished by Col. Kozell-Poklefski, the engineer; >
and the latter gentleman was understood to have no doubts about
the success of his schemed That there must, however, be some
uncertainty as to the results is, I think, clear from the conflicting
11 ■ I't an mteiestm g paper by the officer in question. Col. H. L. Wells, B.E.,
2 That m - V ° f XV ' 0i the 0ocasional Papers of the Royal Engineers, 1889.
strnted in th n ^ rma 10 °> owever ’andmyforebodingswerecorrectwasdemon-
189 °’ When “ leak6d 0ut that M - P°klefski’s great dam
on the ^tib™A T SWept aWay> ° r at least seriousl y damaged, by a flood
was banishing Englishmen 1 from Tran" 3,1 laudlord ’ at . the same time that he
British Govpmrr.o f fi Transcaspia, was driven to request from the
oreiff the had att 7 ° an ° f Servioes of an English official, Sir Colin Mon-
the Nile There « 1 1 °° DSpiCnous access in charge of the irrigation works of
*Sd to SiTheTwrofT in the speotacie ° f an En " iishman bei " g
Moncreiff’s renorf- M pit lUSSl ans at Merv. In consequence of Sir C.
- ZZSS&SZS ft l “" ln “•—■ - *
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 [103v] (213/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213843.0x000014> [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