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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [177v] (357/1814)
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.
180
PERSIA
having inflicted damages from which the province has never re-
covered.
Khorasan has experienced a history of great and stormy
vicissitudes. Situated on the borders of Iran, it has been the
perpetual theatre of armed struggle, and a favourite
History battle-ground of races. Its capital cities have alternately
excited by their dimensions the bewildered admiration of Arab
chroniclers, and have been swept off the earth, as though by a
tornado, by the passions of conquerors and kings. It has been
the residence of great monarchs, and the nucleus of mighty
empires. At one time its name implied a dominion that included
Kharezm (Khiva) and Merv on the north, that stretched to the
Oxus and embraced Balkh, the mother of cities, of which Heiat
was a central point, and that extended beyond Kandahar. 1 2 Later,
as limb after limb was torn away, and independent sovereignties
were created out of the fragments, its boundaries became more
and more contracted, until the kings of Persia would sometimes
have found it difficult to say how much they really held of
Khorasan. In the early part of this century, desolated by border
warfare on the north, inhabited by turbulent chieftains and
conflicting tribes, and commonly dependent upon the fluctuating
politics and fortunes of Herat, it was the vulnerable spot of the
Kajars’ dominions, a sort of Ireland to an otherwise fairly united
kingdom. Long after it had been forcibly conquered and subdued
to the Shah’s authority, disorder trembled below the surface, and
events might at any moment precipitate an explosion. As late as
1862 Mr. Eastwick wrote :—
The normal state of Khorasan is war. Petty plunderings, murders,
brigandage, small insurrections, executions of five, ten, or twenty robbers
take place weekly ; and cavalry engagements, sieges of fortresses or
towns, annually, with a considerable war every five or ten years.
It is not indeed till the last ten or fifteen years that Khorasan
may be said to have become thoroughly fused, in sentiment as v ell
as in title, with the rest of the Shah’s dominions. The present
King, who, whatever his failings, has undeniably consolidated his
1 Of Malek Shah, the son of Alp Arslan, it was even said that ‘prayers were
every day offered up for his health in Jerusalem, Mecca, Medina, Baghdad, Is a a ^
Rhe, Bokhara, Samarcand, Ourgunje, and Kashgar.’—Malcolm, History, m •
p. 217.
2 Journal of a Biplomate, vol. ii. p. 216.
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 [177v] (357/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213843.0x0000a4> [accessed 7 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