Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [197v] (397/1814)
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.
216
PERSIA
improved, but a new one opened up from the British possessions
in Beluchistan to the Persian border, avoiding Afghan territory
altogether, and proceeding e.g. from Quetta via Seistan to Birjand.
All of these are feasible measures, and there can be no excuse for
any supineness in developing or facilitating such pacific avenues
of Anglo-Indian influence. The fourth remedy, which has doubt
less engaged the attention of the Indian Government, is an intima
tion to the Amir of Afghanistan, not on grounds of political economy,
for which I suspect that Abdur Rahman Khan would profess a very
reasonable contempt, but on the grounds of the avowed wish of
the Suzerain Power, that it is desirable to modify a fiscal policy
which is injurious to his own subjects, and displeasing to his chief
allies. The fifth and last remedy, to which I shall revert at greater
length in dealing with Seistan, is the construction of a rival
British railroad on the south, to balance the Transcaspian railway
in the north, and enable us to compete with Russia in a fair field,
and with her own weapons.
I now proceed to explain the reasons for which, apart from
the legitimate desire for commercial profit, both Powers—Russia
Russian
covetous
ness of
Khorasan
and Great Britain—are induced to regard Khorasan with
so intense a concern, what is the objective of Russian
policy in the comprehensive designs which I have
desciibed in this chapter, and what are the counter-interests and
i esponsibilities of this country. The passion for territorial
aggrandisement is one which, though it is indignantly repudiated
by Russian writers, no one with his eyes open can believe to be
other than a dominating influence in the Russian mind. There
is a step in the development of every great Power in which the
lust foi new possessions is in excess of every other sentiment.
Russia is now in this acquisitive stage of empire. Great Britain,
having passed through it, and having in her day experienced its
intoxicating fumes in all their intensity, has emerged into the
more, sober atmosphere of the conservative stage. In other words
Russian interest in Khorasan is the cupidity of the would-be
possessoi. Kngland, on the contrary, neither aspires to, nor will
ever hold, a square yard of the country.
If we inquire the ulterior reasons for which Russia desires the
possession of Khorasan, they are not far to seek. Her Transcas-
p an conquests have brought under her control a region, the
g eatei part of which consists of barren wilderness, and whose
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 [197v] (397/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213844.0x000004> [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
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