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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [207r] (416/1814)
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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THE SEISTAN QUESTION
235
Chakhansur, and heard a true account of the tragedy. Ibrahim
Khan was, it appeared, a savage, semi-lunatic kind of barbarian,
much given to charms and bhang (intoxicating drinks), and he
had shot Dr. Forbes while hunting wild fowl on the lake, in a freak
of sportive inebriation . 1 About the same time another young officer,
Lieutenant Pattinson, approaching the Helmund from the Afghan
side, explored its course from Zamindawer to the Seistan Lake. He
too was killed a vear or two later in an outbreak at Kandahar, fol
lowing upon the Kabul tragedy. A few years later—viz. in 1845—
the French officer Ferrier was in Seistan, of which he has left a
description in his interesting book . 2 Khanikoff, the Russian, whose
services to science are not enhanced by his jealous depreciation of
the labours of any English predecessor in the same field, was here
in 1859, 3 and crossed the Desert of Lut to Kerman. This was the
sum total of European travellers who had left any record of Seistan
prior to the despatch of General Goldsmid and his colleagues . 4
I now approach the subject to which I have hitherto been
leading up, and whose existence I have indicated by the title
which I have given to this chapter. The Seistan Question,
vaiueof however, is not the old question of the boundary, or of
Seistan r j[ va | c i a i ms 0 f Persia and Afghanistan. It is the
future question of the part, if any, that Seistan is likely to play or
is capable of playing in the politics of Central Asia, and in the
diplomatic or military strategy of Russia and Great Britain . 5
Inspection of the map with the aid of a pair of compasses will show
that the province of Seistan lies about midway between Meshed
and the sea. Its situation, therefore, constitutes it a sort of
advanced outpost of Khorasan, as well as a terra media through
which any power desirous of moving southwards from Meshed,
particularly any power that is covetous of an outlet upon the
Indian Ocean, must pass; and through which must equally pass
any power desirous of reaching Khorasan and Meshed from a south-
1 From the Indus to the Tigris, pp. 217-219. Compare Eastern Persia, p. 317.
2 Caravan Journeys, caps, xxvii., xxviii.
3 Memoire de la Partie meridionale de VAsie Centrale, pp. 153-164.
4 For a modern account of Seistan, other than that contained in the Reports
of the Goldsmid Commission, vide Globus, vol. xxxii. pp. 170, 186,200 (1877) ; and
PetermanFs Mittheilungen (1873), pp. 149-150 ; (1874), pp. 59-63 ; (1877), pp. 66 -
72 ; (1878), pp. 25-29,
5 I have already published a brief but very condensed statement of the case
in Russia in Central Asia, pp, 379-381.
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 [207r] (416/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213844.0x000017> [accessed 8 July 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