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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [190v] (383/1814)
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.
202
PERSIA
Kuchan, Kelat, Sarakhs, Khaf, and Seistan are tke several scenes
of operation, and may eventually supply the requisite doorways of
entry. A glance at the map and at the Transcaspian position of
Russia, coterminous for 300 miles with the northern border of
Khorasan, will show how a situation which the vicinity of a strong
Power in possession of the mountains might have rendered ex
tremely critical has, in the face of a neighbour as weak and pliant
as Persia, been converted by Russia into an overwhelming ad
vantage.
It is scarcely possible indeed to exaggerate the effect which the
Transcaspian conquests of Russia, and her subsequent construction
influence a ra ^ wa y across the desert immediately outside and
of the below the Persian frontier, have had upon the political
Trans- ' . . 1
Caspian condition, and will have upon the political destinies of her
railway neighbours. This, however, is a wider question than
should fall within the scope of a chapter dealing solely with one
province of the Persian dominion ; and I therefore propose to defer
it till a chapter is reached which shall handle the whole question
of Russian influence and policy in Persia, of which General
AnnenkofFs railway may be described as one of the propelling
instruments . 1
Before I leave the politics of Khorasan, let me revert once again
interior to its administrative subdivisions, and supplement the
information which I have given about the border
provinces by a brief sketch of its interior districts. I may divide
these into two classes : an inner row, or second line, so to speak,
of border districts; and districts which have no connection with
the frontier at all.
Commencing’from the south, where we left off with Seistan, and
striking inland from about the same parallel as Kain, we come to
Tabbas ^ ie province of Tabbas, which touches on the south that
of Yezd, from which it is 200 miles distant. The in
habitants of Tabbas are partly Arabs, partly Persians, and are
ruled by a hereditary chieftain of analogous though inferior position
to the Khans, Ilkhams, and Amirs previously described. His name
is Muza Mohammed Bakar Khan, and his official title the Imad-eb
Mulk, or Pillai of the State ; though it cannot be contended that
either m conti ibutrons or in individual importance he lends to it anv
paiticular support. The country is big and poor, the people in-
1 Vide vol. ii. cap. xxx.
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 [190v] (383/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213843.0x0000be> [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