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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [195r] (392/1814)
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.
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POLITICS AND COMMERCE OF KHORASAN
211
Persian merchants, pay a further two and a half percent, upon
entering Khorasan, or seven and a half per cent, in all. Similarly
the total of dues levied on the Kerman route from Bunder Abbas
will be about seven and a half per cent. ; and by the more circuit
ous Yezd route nine per cent. The excess above the stipulated
five pei cent, would be avoided if there were British consignees
at the destination. . Another plan of the Persian Custom-house
officers at the ports is to levy less than the stipulated five per cent,
there, but to give no voucher for the sum received; and thus to
provide their confraternity in the remaining cities with the oppor
tunity not merely of making up the five per cent., but sometimes
of almost doubling its amount.
These are the disadvantages under which British or Anglo-
Indian trade labours. Russia has at her command four trade
Russian routes : W the Tifli s-Tabriz-Teheran line ; (2) the Resht-
routes Teheran line ; (3j the Gez-Astrabad-Shahrud line ; and
(4) Ashkabad-Kuchan line in connection with the
Transcaspian railway. The three first have been practically super
seded by the last, which is only 150 miles in length, which is being
converted along its entire distance into a carriageable highway, and
w hich, in narrating my own journey, I have already described . 1
No woids are needed to explain the enormous advantage of which
she is the possessor • an advantage with which we are only able to
compete because of her inability to supply some of the largest
articles of import, such as tea and indigo; and because of the,
as yet, superior quality of British manufactures. None the less
it is not surprising to find the British consul summarising his
opinion of the situation in these words :—
It is obvious that with the Transcaspian railway at Ashkabad, only
150 miles from Aleshecl, and with both towns linked as they shortly
will be by an excellent macadamised 2 road, British goods, having to
cross the seas and traverse long, rough land routes cannot hope to com
pete with Russian goods, even in these provinces of Persia, unless our
railway is extended in this direction.
Russia is thoroughly alive to the advantage of her situation,
1 I have since heard (May 1891) that heavy, springless carts, drawn by two
three, or four horses, have superseded mule and horse traffic on the Kuohan
Meshed section of the road. ^ucnan-
™ 7“ thlS W ° rd i§ a misnomer > for I am convinced that were the orminal
am dam to be raised from the dead and dropped down on the Ashkabad-Meshed
road he would stand aghast at such a prostitution of his respectable name.
p 2
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 [195r] (392/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213843.0x0000c7> [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