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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎109v] (225/1814)

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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PERSIA
CHAPTER V
FROM ASHKABAD TO KUCHAN
Wild warriors of the turquoise hills.
T. Mooke, Veiled Prophet of Khorasan.
AT the station at Ashkabad I was accosted by a Persian servant
whom Colonel Stewart had been kind enough to send out to meet me
Arrival at from tlie British Consulate at Meshed. The camp, which.
Ashkabad ] ie . ] ia( } a ] so despatched, was, I understood, awaiting my
arrival somewhere on the Persian side of the frontier, over thirty
miles distant. The Russian authorities at Meshed being reluctant
to give permission to English subjects resident in Persia to cross
the border into Russian Transcaspia, my future attendants were
unable to meet me at Ashkabad; but the Persian, to whom the
restriction did not apply, had been despatched thither to guide me
to the frontier. Unfortuantely, neither of us spoke any tongue that
was intelligible to the other, and an intermediary was equally
difficult to find. I drove to the Governor-Generahs house through
suffocating volumes of dust, only to discover that General Komaroff
had left the day before, and that my previous year’s acquaintance
with him would stand me in no stead. The Colonel commanding
in his absence, whom I next sought, and who was without instruc
tions as regards myself, expressed a desire to telegraph to St. Peters
burg tor information, and in the meantime suggested that I might
with advantage devote a few days to the charms of Ashkabad. As
I knew from former experience that these were of the most meagre
escription, consisting only of a common native bazaar, several
Russian shops, the houses inhabited by the Russian civil and
military officials, and the military cantonments—planted down on
a flat and featureless desert, and wrapped up in a perpetual whirl
wind of dust 1 I declined the invitation and expressed my desire
In 1881, when the Russians invaded Transcaspia, Ashkabad was a Turkoman
settlement of 500 Mbitkas. Being constituted the Russian capital, it speedily
e langed its character and extended its dimensions. In 1884 it contained a popu-
ation of 4,000, in 1886 of 10,000, exclusive of the military. Since then it has
remained at a little above that figure.

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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 [‎109v] (225/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213843.0x000020> [accessed 5 June 2026]

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