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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [198v] (399/1814)
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.
218
PERSIA
Finally, having reached that point, she is already half way to the
and, her railways once carried as far as ISTasratabad, she
sea
would begin to felicitate herself upon a port on the Indian Ocean
and the long sought outlet in the southern seas . 1
The physical conditions which I have expounded, the designs
of Russia, of which evidence can be produced incapable of refuta-
B T h . tion, and the importance of any movements so intimately
terests in affecting Afghanistan explain the interest which England
Khorasan . g t p ere py compelled to take in this portion of the Shah’s
dominions. Those who argue that Khorasan is far from India, and
can therefore safely be left alone, repeat the imbecile fallacy that
has already been attended with such pitiable results in the past,
and that has landed us in our recent position in both Persia and
Afghanistan. Afghanistan has often been described as the north
western glacis of our Indian citadel; and to allow an enemy to
effect a lodgment undisturbed upon even the outskirts of that
glacis is to commit a strategical error of the first importance.
British policy in Khorasan is directed to the safeguarding of
British—i.e., of Afghan—interests in that quarter ; to the main
tenance of the political status quo —i.e., of the Persian dominion;
and more particularly to the watching of those approaches from
the south, the freedom of which is indispensable to British com
merce, and the control of which by a hostile instead of an allied
Power would be an appreciable peril to Hindustan. It is a con
solatory fact that General Maclean, the recently appointed Consul-
General at Meshed, is also Consul for Seistan. An independent
British official should, however, be deputed to the latter place,
whose near proximity to the Anglo-Beluch frontier renders it of
great importance to British interests, and whose resources, if
developed by scientific irrigation and a railway, might make it a
nucleus of commercial influence radiating through central and
southern Persia, and even counterbalancing Russian ascendency in
northern Khorasan.
Finally, let me indicate what I believe to be the attitude of the
population of Khorasan towards Russia and Great Britain, and the
assistance or the reverse that either Power may expect to meet
with in the prosecution of its schemes. Earlier travellers, such
1 That these designs are not the offspring of imagination, but are seriously
entertained by Russia, evidence will be forthcoming, in a later chapter upon
Russian Policy in Persia as a whole, to prove.
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 [198v] (399/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213844.0x000006> [accessed 7 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