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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [108r] (222/1814)
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.
TRANSCASPIA
83
evidence could be given of the successful disintegration of old
tribal ties, customs, and traditions among the conquered Turkomans,
who, little more than ten years ago, were fighting like fiends
against those whom they now humbly follow and serve.
More significant even than the new form given to the Govern
ment of Transcaspia is the character and personality of the new
Governor. In place of a quiet and unwarlike professor,
Kuro- al who was happier when labelling his insects than when
patkm reviewing his men, we have the right-hand man and
alter ego of Skobeleff, and the first soldier and strategist in Central
Asia. Born in 1848, Kuropatkin entered the Turkestan army at
the age of eighteen, and, among other operations, was present at the
siege and subsequent capture of Samarkand. Having passed out
first from the Staff College in 1874, he spent a year in Algeria,
where he joined the French expedition to the Great Sahara, and
wrote his first work upon the campaign. He then returned to
Central Asia, and was on SkobelefFs staff during the war with
Khokand, in which he was wounded and received the Cross of St.
George. In 1876 he was sent on a special mission to negotiate a
treaty with Yakub Beg of Kashgar (as a counterblast to the
British Mission of Forsyth), and made this the subject of his second
work. In the Russo-Turkish war he was Chief of the Staff to
Skobeleff, and at its close was appointed head of the Asiatic section
of the General Staff; while occupying which post he wrote a third
work on the recent war. In 1879 he again returned to Central
Asia, in command of the Turkestan Rifle Battalion, and in the
following year executed a brilliant march at the head of a column
across the Turkoman desert in order to join Skobeleff at Geok Tepe,
arriving in time to lead one of the three divisions to the assault.
Since then he has been the chief adviser of the War Office in St 0
Petersburg on all questions of Central Asian administration or
strategy, and now returns in the prime of life to the highest
command in a country of which he knows more than any living
Russian general. His strategical abilities and reputation for
courage render his appointment one of extreme significance. Nor
can it be forgotten that he is the author of the famous secret
memorandum upon the invasion of India by Russian troops,
which is generally accepted in Russian military circles as embody
ing the most orthodox and feasible scheme of advance, ana to
which I shall have occasion to refer in later chapters. Geneial
G ^
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 [108r] (222/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213843.0x00001d> [accessed 9 July 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