![Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎180r] (362/1814)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/Mss Eur F111_33_0373.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎180r] (362/1814)")
Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [180r] (362/1814)
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.
:in g down
!rn shores
acl carried
iar either
cership 0 f
their stay
ver e inca-
e tacitly
armament
i one gun-
he off the
' ■ piratical
y quelled,
ving back
suggestion
wholesome.
)wly eaten
tions have
iptions of
wick left a
found it in
md Little
bout half a
[ian Kaleh
1 one-third
lie Russian
lalf a mile,
aientioned by
5-242. The
assians drunk
isisted on the
her, although
L the matter.
two despatch
POLITICS AND COMMERCE OF KHORASAN
185
followed by the low sand spit known as Little Ashurada, two miles
m length. Then came more shoals, with a narrow passage between
them, extending to the Turkoman coast.
Since then a third island, which the Russians call Middle
Ashuiada, has been formed between the other two, while to strike
New island a balance the erosive process has been going on at Great
Ashmada to such an extent that the island is now reported
to be less than a mile long by only one-third of a mile wide. Upon
this space of ground are built the quarters of the commodore,
bailacks foi soldieis, a church, club-house, and the usual appur
tenances of a military station.
In view of the facts here narrated it is not surprising that the
Russians, who since the complete subjugation of the Turkomans
Change of ^ Ve next to n( Ahmg to do at Ashurada, and have really
quarters no defensible raison d'etre in the place, should have for
long turned covetous eyes upon some more secure and
salubrious post on the inner line of the bay. More than twenty
years ago they are said to have contemplated the seizure of the
Persian landing-place of Gez, on the mainland, by offering to garrison
it; but in this they were forestalled by the Persian Government.
Unable to possess themselves of Gez, which, though a wretched
place in itself, 1 the Shah w^ould be in the last degree reluctant to
yield, and the occupation of which would signify the beginning of
the end, they are rumoured now to be desirous of obtaining a
fortified position on the Kara Su (or Black Water), a small river
rising about thirty miles east of Astrabad, and flowing into the
Caspian about six miles south of the embouchure of the Gurgan.
Such a position would be equivalent to the occupation of Gez, and
would place Astrabad literally at their mercy.
Before I pass to the question of the reasons for which the
Russians cling so closely to their foothold in this unlovely spot, let
TT . , me call attention to the fact that in their presence there
History . . . 1
repeats history is merely repeating itself. It is a strange and inter
esting coincidence, although it is one which I have never
seen noticed, that over 200 years ago the island of Ashurada was simi-
1 Bunder-i-Grez, sometimes also called Kinara, is a miserable collection of huts
and sheds on the shore, with a large
caravanserai
A roadside inn providing accommodation for caravans (groups of travellers).
, a Persian Custom House, a few
shops kept by Russian Armenians, and the residences of a Russian Consular Agent
and a representative of the Caucasus and Mercury Steamship Company. It is
about three miles from the village of Gez, which is an ordinary Persian forest-
village with over 1,000 inhabitants.
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 [180r] (362/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213843.0x0000a9> [accessed 27 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