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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [193v] (389/1814)
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.
208
PERSIA
The trade is now extinct, and no sugar, either loaf or crushed, but
Russian is seen. Russian kerosine from Baku commands the
market. In 1888-9, 36,000 pouds were imported into Meshed.
Lamps, chandeliers, candle-shades, lustres, trays, glasses, tumblers,
samovars, teapots, saucers, locks, and cheap cutlery are all of
Russian origin, and suggest to the casual observer that the supply
of the entire furniture of life has been monopolised by Russian
enterprise.
While I was in Meshed, I took such steps as were open to me,
by consulting the best authorities, including Messrs. Ziegler’s
Persian agent, the sole European mercantile house represented
figures there, to ascertain the true state of affairs, and more
especially the respective volumes and values of Russian and Anglo-
Indian trade. It is well known that in Persia it is almost im
possible to obtain statistics, and that such as are with infinite
difficulty procurable are too often imperfect or erroneous. Calcu
lations as to the total amount of trade are frequently made from
Custom-house returns, which do not necessarily supply a reliable
basis of induction. Figures are readily given by European
merchants or their agents ; but native merchants either do not
care to disclose them, or sometimes do not keep them at all.
Therefore, of neither the figures which I am about to give, nor of
those published by the officials of the British Government, can
absolute accuracy be postulated in Khorasan any more than in
other parts of Persia. They may be regarded, however, as ap
proximately correct.
I was assured by my informants in Meshed that, while the
volume of trade in Khorasan was indisputably Russian, the value
My infer- WaS sti11 ° n the side of the En o lisl1 - Tlie cheaper objects
mation in which were everywhere visible and which flood the petty
retail shops all hailed from Russia, and competition with
them was impossible; but the more costly imports, entering
Khorasan partly from the west, via Tabriz, Teheran, and Shahrud,
but in far greater quantity from the south, via Bunder Abbas on
the sea, and Kerman, were of British or Anglo-Indian origin, and
estimated in £ s. d., it could be demonstrated that Meshed at that
moment did a larger trade with Bombay than it did with the whole
of Russia. For instance, the customs dues for Meshed for the year
1888 (i.e., the octroi collected on imported merchandise) had been
bought from the Government for the sum of 50,000
tomans
10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value.
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 [193v] (389/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213843.0x0000c4> [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