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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [201v] (405/1814)
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.
224
PERSIA
able and in many cases the sole asset of which Natme can here
boast. One of these disputes between Afghanistan and Persia
had been raging for some time before my visit, concerning a
border district named Hashtadan, on the paiallel between Xvuhsan
and Ghurian. The British, who are usually appealed to on these
occasions as umpires, and who have more than once undertaken
what is apt to be a very thankless task, were invited to arbitrate f
and a decision was given which, I dare say, had what MacGregor
thought the superlative merit of dissatisfying both parties. 1
only allude to it as typical of the incidents that must constantly
recur upon a boundary so ill-defined, assisted in most parts by no
natural features, and peopled by nomad tribes who care very little
2. Seistan
s.i r
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for posts or pillars.
The second section is the frontier of Seistan, as defined by the
Anglo-Perso-Afghan Boundary Commission under Sir F. Goldsmid
in 1872 , which will form the main subject of this chapter.
The length of this section from north to south is about
120 miles ; but as the new frontier, fixed by the arbitration, pursues
a wide deviation to the south-east until it touches the river Hel-
mund, and then turns again in a south-westerly direction, the
length of the two outer sides of the triangle thus described is
considerably greater than that of the hypotenuse.
Third in order comes a stretch of boundary from the southern
end of the Seistan frontier, fixed in 1872 , to the northern end of
the Mekran boundary, demarcated in the previous year;
BeMi°" or, in other words, from the Kuh-Malek-i-Siah to Jalk, a
boundary ^stance of 200 miles. This section of the border has
never been defined at all. No one knows where or what it is. No
two maps colour it alike ; and the majority compound for ignorance
by obvious conjecture, drawing a straight line in a south-easterly
direction from the mountains named above to the neighbourhood
of Jalk. Beluchistan is here the neighbour of Persia on the
east; but the wandering Beluch tribes who camp upon the frontier
own very little allegiance to the Khan of Kelat, and are practically
independent.
Lastly comes the line from Jalk to the port of Gwetter, on the
sea, 130 miles in length, which I call the Mekran boundary,
4 Mekran because that part of Beluchistan which it divides between
boundary Persia and Kelat is known by that name. It was de
fined under conditions of peculiar difficulty by Sir F. Goldsmid in
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 [201v] (405/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213844.0x00000c> [accessed 14 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