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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [173r] (348/1814)
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.
MESHED
171
Meshed. Such a concession having been made to the Russians
could not, of course, be denied to the British, and General Mac-
lean, who had for some time most ably represented the Indian
Government on the Perso-Afghan frontier, received simultaneously
his appointment as Consul-General, and, arriving at his post a
short time before his Russian colleague, was the doyen of the limited
Diplomatic Corps that had thus been called into being at the
capital of Khorasan.
The Russian Government had for some time made preparations
for this eventuality. Their
native agent
Non-British agents affiliated with the British Government.
had acquired a large
Russian house, standing in spacious surroundings, in a suitable
Consulate quart er of the city, and into this abode, well qualified to
furnish the official icsidence of the representative of a great
sovereign, M. Vlassof at once moved. The Russian flag floated
above the doorway. A small bodyguard of four Russian Cossacks,
as well as the Persian guard assigned to both Consuls by the
Government, preceded the Consul when he moved abroad, and
the native population of Meshed, whose fanaticism turned out to
be a very negative quantity, were speedily habituated to the
presence of the foreign element which made so brave a display.
There can be no question that the presence of a capable Russian
official and staff, and the impression produced by ample surround
ings and an imposing abode must have done much to augment
Russian influence in the capital, and, if that influence is some
times exercised with an abrupt and imperious insistence, the
effect, even though it be the reverse of welcome to those on whom
it is produced, will not thereby have been lessened in intensity.
A vigorous Russian representative at Meshed is a visible symbol
of the great Power whose movements and intentions form the
subject of conversation in every Oriental bazaar, and whose ever-
swelling shadow, witnessed with a sort of paralysed quiescence by
the native peoples, looms like a thunder-cloud over the land.
In one of my c Times 5 letters I wrote as follows :— 4 It is to be
regretted that so far the British Government has not been able to
British house its representative in a similarly becoming fashion.
Consulate Preparations for such a contingency had not been made,
as m the rival case, long beforehand; and the building which now
hears the insignia of the British Consulate, and flies the British
flag, is one that affords the scantiest possible evidence of the
rank and importance of its inmate. It is little short of discredit-
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 [173r] (348/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213843.0x00009b> [accessed 5 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