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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [198r] (398/1814)
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.
POLITICS AND COMMERCE OF KHORASAN
only fertile spots are a series of detached oases at the base of a
mountain range. On the other side of that mountain lange for a
distance of 300 miles extends a country which, in the
to^Tnms- plains and hollows that separate its manifold ridges, con-
caspia ceals an abundance of wealth, in fruit, in minerals, in pio-
duce of every kind, above all in grain. She is like a man camping
in a desolate and stony field divided only by a thick hedge from
a spacious pasture, where he sees food for himself, fodder foi
his beasts, comfort and repose for both. What a temptation to
break through the hedge and poach on the hidden preserves!
Such are the feelings with which the Russians regard Khorasan.
They would fain move from Akhal Tekke to Kuchan, from Ashka-
bad to Meshed. Here they would find supplies that might feed
mighty armies, mountain fastnesses invulnerable to attack, a docile
population, a resting-ground where new plans of action could be
formed, and a base whence they could be set in motion in the
future. . • • i
It is the latter context—viz., with a view to future political
contingencies—that Khorasan acquires a further and definite value
Apied-ti- in Russian eyes. At present Russian is separated from
ierre Afghan territory in Central Asia by Sir West Ridgeway’s
lIdia St frontier—an artificial line drawn for a distance of 350
miles from the Heri Rud to the Oxus. This line could, no doubt,
at any moment be violated ; but no territorial acquisitions of im
mediate value would result, and the step could only be taken at
the risk, nay, with the certainty, of war with Great Britain. How
much simpler to slip round the corner and so to turn the enemy’s
flank ! From the Zulfikar Pass to the southern extremity of
Seistan, Persia is coterminous with Afghanistan; and a Power
established upon the Persian side of that border would command
Herat (there is a carriage road of 230 miles from Meshed to Herat),
threaten the road by Far rah and Ginshk to Kandahar, and be
brought to the very banks of the Helmund. Russia settled m
Khorasan, and especially in that fringe of border territory which I
have been at such pains to describe, has no need to mfrmge any
Ano'lo-Afghan boundary. The entire western frontier of Afghani
stan lies exposed to her influence or assault. Furthermore, m
Seistan she comes into close contact with a part of Beluchistan of
disputed ownership and unsettled tenure, and is separated by on y
a short distance from the advanced British frontier m Pishm.
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 [198r] (398/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213844.0x000005> [accessed 2 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