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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [104v] (215/1814)
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.
76
PERSIA
wires conduct from Kizil Arvat to Bujnurd, and thence to Chikisliliar
and Astrabad, from Karibent to Sarakhs, from Mery to Takhta
Tii e Bazaar (Penjdeh), from Charjui to Khiva, from Bokhara
telegraph station to Bokhara town, and, I was informed, from
Charjui to the advanced post of Kerki on the Oxus. Elsewhere it
has been reported that the service in the latter case is performed
by pigeon-post. The question of connecting the Russian wires
from their advanced point at Sarakhs or Takhta Bazaar with those
of India via Afghanistan, touching Herat and Kandahar on the
way, and thereby of providing an alternative overland telegraphic
route from Europe to India, is one that has suggested itself to
certain English and Indian authorities. But, apart from the
advisability of the project, which is open to question, the circum
stances are not at present such as would be favourable to its
execution.
On the occasion of my first visit to Transcaspia in 1888, the
duration of the journey from Uzun Ada to Samarkand— a distance
Speed and 900 miles was seventy-two hours. This has now been
reduced for the passenger and postal trains, which run two
or three times a week, according to the season, to a little over sixty
hours, of which ten are consumed in stoppages. Slower trains,
mixed passenger and merchandise, circulate every day, and occupy
about fifteen hours longer in the transit. Refreshment cars of
moderate but serviceable quality are now attached to the trains,
nm \ ' laVf ‘ ^placed the stationary buffets, except at the larger
stations.
^ lues rece ipts and cost of working of the Transcaspian
ai way, which aie sometimes officially published, sometimes
Balance- communicated by General Annenkoff to newspaper
correspondents, and sometimes gleaned from private
souices, aie unfortunately as conflicting as the different estimates
which have at various times been derived from the same variety of
” 0f : ^ 10 or ^ na ^ cos ^ construction. The working expenses
? QQQ S 0we< ^ an excess °f 40,0001. above the receipts ; those of
1888 an excess of 30,000Z. A deficit in the balance-sheet of the
same amount was expected in 1889; but the ‘ Novoe Vremya’ has
published the total of working expenses in that year as 241,73U,
and declared that the receipts were 7,000Z. in excess. General
tt 6n a°i ’ me muc li more ambitious figures at
zun i a. he budget of M. Vishnegradski, the singularly able
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 [104v] (215/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213843.0x000016> [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