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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [183v] (369/1814)
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.
188
PERSIA
route for a European army marching to Meshed or Herat was un
doubtedly by Astrabad. But since then the Transcaspian situation
has been revolutionised. Russia sits securely where the Turkoman
terror formerly reigned. Meshed can be smitten from Ashkabad,
and Herat from Merv and Penjdek, without any necessity for the
lengthy land march from the Caspian. Astrabad, therefore, as a
point of debarkation, has not the value for Russia that it formerly
had. Nor are its own resources sufficient, so far as can be ascer
tained, to support a very large army in the field, although it is
said that, in 1863 , a Persian army of 30,000 men remained encamped
for eight months in the neighbourhood. Its value is now not so
much offensive as defensive. Its eye may be said to look not
eastwards, but westwards ; and its strategical importance is involved
in the second of the questions which I named above, viz. the con
trol of the Shahrud road and the position which it consequently
enables its occupant to take up against the rest of Persia and the
capital.
Astrabad is separated from Shahrud by the Shah Kuh, or main
range of the Elburz mountains, which here retain a distinct physical
Th e individuality before they are broken up into the manifold
Astrabad- Hdges of northern Khorasan. The highest peak of this
position section, fifteen miles south of Astrabad, attains an altitude
of 13,000 feet. Across the range there are two passes to Shahrud,
a distance by the mule track of sixty-five miles, one of which at
least, in spite of the elevation and of the nature of the country,
might be converted into an excellent military road. 1 An army
marching by either of these and seizing Shahrud, which is abso
lutely defenceless, would find itself in this position. It would, m
the first place, be surrounded by a district of considerable fertility
and abundant water supply, capable even in summer of sustaining
a large army. 2 Secondly, it would hold the point of junction of the
1 The two roads between Shahrud and Astrabad (one by the Kuzluk Pass, the
other by Ziarat) are described by Lieut. A. Conolly (1830), Overland Journey 1°
India, vol. i. pp. 182-184; Captain Claude Clerk. Proceedings of the M.O.S.,
vol. xvii. pp. 193-194 ; Colonel B. Lovett (1881), Ditto (New Series), vol. v. pp*
75-84 (1883). The road from Astrabad to Gez (27 miles) is described by B- B.
Eastwick (1862), Journal of a Dijjlomatc, vol. ii. pp. 45-49 ; Captain Hon. H.
Napier (1874), Journal of the R.G.S., vol. xlvi. pp. 114, 115 ; (Sir) C. MacGregor
(1875), Journey through Khorasan, vol. ii. pp. 163-166.
2 Colonel Val. Baker (CZn?^.? in the East, p. 142) said that the plain of Bostarn
(which is the district surrounding Shahrud, Bostam, three miles distant, bem 0
the residence of the Governor) could maintain an army of 60,000 men.
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 [183v] (369/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213843.0x0000b0> [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