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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [180v] (363/1814)
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.
186
PERSIA
larly occupied, without permission, by abody of Cossacks, and for some
time held by them in force. It was in 1668 , we learn from the omni
scient Chardin, 1 that the Cossacks of South Russia, being instigated
by the Grand Duke of Muscovy to attack Persia in revenge for a
slight which had been put upon his embassy by Shah Abbas
the Great, invaded Mazanderan and sacked his capital, Ferahabad.
Thereupon, intending to winter in Persia, they entrenched them
selves on the f peninsula of Mionne Kelle, or Middle-sized Horn, a
tongue of land that runs forward into the Caspian Sea about ten or
eleven leagues, and abounds in harts, wild boars, wild goats, and
other sorts of wild venison/ The Persians promptly attacked
them, and, bolder or more fortunate than their nineteenth-century
descendants, succeeded in ousting the intruders, who, however, took
refuge in Askurada, and remained there for a time.
Nor is this the only occasion upon which Russian forerunners
have appeared upon the scene, or have been within measurable
Peter the distance of seizing Astrabad. Fifty years later, in 1722 - 3 ,
Great Peter the Great, who had a very shrewd notion of the
proper strategical positions to be occupied, and who, although his
alleged will be apocryphal, entertained very clearly defined ideas
of a Central Asian dominion, taking advantage of the disordered
condition of Persia consequent upon the Afghan invasion in 1722 ,
and utilising as his plea the robbery and slaughter of a number of
his subjects in Persian towns near the border, prepared to invade
the country from the north. This project was never carried out
in its entirety ; although the Russian army, led by himself, advanced
in 1722 as far as Derbend. The submission of Gilan and surrender
of Baku in the following year were, however, sufficient to extort
from the young Shah, Tahmasp II., who was endeavouring to make
headway against the Afghan usurpers, a treaty, ceding to Russia
Derbend and Baku with their dependencies, and the entire provinces
of Gilan, Mazanderan, and Astrabad ; in return for which magnifi
cent donation—which by the way the young Shah was hardly in a
position at the time to make—the Russian army was to drive the
Afghans out of the country. 2 The Russians occupied Gilan for a
1 Coronation of King Solyman III. (printed as a supplement to his Travel!)
pp. 152-154.
2 The treaty was dated September 3, 1723. Its terms are given by Han way,
Historical Account of British Trade over the Caspian, vol. iii. p. 181. For a moie
minute account of the Russian occupation, vide a later chapter of this volume.
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 [180v] (363/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213843.0x0000aa> [accessed 6 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