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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [186v] (375/1814)
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.
194
PERSIA
pOLlT
formally offered to give to Persia, in exchange for Ivelat, her share
of the famous and fertile plain of Moghan on the western shore
of the Caspian. The offer was declined. The value of Ivelat to
Russia consists, as I have before argued, in its command of the
head waters of the streams that run down to the Atek; and still
more in its position as a central point for controlling the border
tribes, and in its prodigious prestige. Persia is far from willing
to cede this remarkable point of vantage, and guards it with a
jealousy that is in curious contrast to her general apathy and
weakness. No stranger is permitted to enter except with a special
permit from the Shah, and several Russians, as well as myself,
have been baffled in the attempt to penetrate into the interior.
Russian policy in these parts is at present directed to claiming
more and more of the streams that irrigate her possessions on the
plain, and to extending her influence over the border tribes.
Little by little she has crept up the mountain skirts from the
Atek at the bottom, while disputes about the water supply which,
though it fertilises Russian villages, yet flows from Persian sources
and through Persian territory, can always be aggravated into an
excuse for encroachment. Kelat would provide her with a centre
of particular value for either object, and she will remain discon
tented until she possesses it.
In the published treaty between Russia and Persia, which was
concluded in December 1881, and which defined the new bonndaiy
between Transcaspia and Khorasan, necessitated by the
Russian conquests of that year, the delineation of the
border which commenced at the mouth of the Atrek,
stops abruptly before it reaches the village of Lutfabad, situate
in the Atek below the Persian district of Deregez. Lutfabad was
left to the Persians; but what is the exact frontier eastwaids h om
this point to Sarakhs on the Tejend is not ascertainable hom a 11 }
published document. It is believed to have been settled b\
secret treaty in 1881 or in 1883 between Russia and Peisia.
which I shall later on have occasion to refer; and commissione ^
reported to have passed over the ground and traced it out- ^
popular uncertainty, or rather ignorance, upon the point is, ^
an excuse for just such acts of encroachment on the paR 0
stronger power as I have sketched in the preceding paragiap ^
At Sarakhs we once again touch a definite boundaiy ia
shape of the Tejend River, which, though known in ih
Russo-
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Salor tribe of r J
that race of w.
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i/
first journey t
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dubious allegii
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pour,
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mills.
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- 221 .
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 [186v] (375/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213843.0x0000b6> [accessed 5 April 2025]
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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