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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎109r] (224/1814)

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. .

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TKANSCASPIA
85
commissioned officers to the Bokharan army ; 1 and the contemplated
railway extensions to Sarakhs and Tashkent. Each of these steps
in itself would be important; but their combination, if effectively
carried out, as there is every reason to suppose will before long be
the case, will place Russia in a position almost incredibly superior
to that which she occupied in 1885. At the same time she is intro
ducing compulsory education for her Asiatic subjects in Russian
schools, and is applying to Transcaspia the strict passport system
of European Russia. If we take a leap over the intervening five
hundred miles, which are described as Afghanistan on the map, and
observe what is being done on the Indian side of that mysterious
middle ground, we shall find as great cause for satisfaction on our
own part as may the Russians on theirs. Either side is busy
with preparations. But preparations for war have a tendency to
prolong peace ; and experience seems to show that two equally well-
prepared countries are much less likely to fight than two ill-
prepared ones, or than two countries of which the better prepared
is burning to profit by the backwardness of the less.
If I were asked again at this time to cast a horoscope of the
immediate political future in Central Asia (for extended prophecy
would be absurd), I should reply that the omens are still
those of peace. 2 Time seems to strengthen the conviction
on both sides that a collision could not be confined to a small area or
to a brief period of time, but that it must have far-reaching conse
quences which none can foresee. The notoriously peaceful pro
clivities of the reigning Czar are a potent factor in the situation,
but one upon which in the unsettled state of Russian society it is
unsafe to depend too implicitly ; although it may be hoped that
the same instincts will be developed in his eldest son, who recently
toured through the Indian dominions of the Queen. Afghanistan
remains as it has now been for half a century, the key of the situa
tion. If Russia continues to respect alike her own plighted word
and the boundaries of her neighbours, the Cossack and the Sepoy Term used in English to refer to an Indian infantryman. Carries some derogatory connotations as sometimes used as a means of othering and emphasising race, colour, origins, or rank.
may remain friends, at a distance, for some time to come.
1 Announced in the Moscow Gazette, January 1891.
2 As these sheets go to press somewhat disquieting rumours reach us of Russian
advance in the Pamirs and elsewhere ; and it is possible that we may be on the
threshold of a more troubled era.

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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
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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎109r] (224/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213843.0x00001f> [accessed 12 December 2024]

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