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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [208r] (418/1814)
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.
THE SEISTAN QUESTION
237
English port on the Caspian by any Czar. It is true that Hussia
turns longing eyes towards a maritime outlet on the south, and
that of the two methods by which she can possibly attain thereto,
encroachment in a southerly direction from Meshed via Seistan is
one. This fact is of course an addition to the prospective value of
Seistan in Hussian eyes, but it postulates a condition of affairs so
remote, and I would fain hope so inconceivable, that I will not
expend words upon its further examination.
The negative value of Seistan to Hussia is the inverse aspect of
its positive value to Great Britain. In other words, Hussia would
^ ^ ^ like to get hold of Seistan herself, in order to prevent
Great Seistan from being got hold of by Great Britain ; and
because, in the latter event, not only would the ambitious
and far-reaching schemes that I have sketched be frustrated, but
England would be in a position very seriously to menace the
Asiatic status of her rival. Let me explain. I have already in
the previous chapter indicated the acute commercial warfare that is
now being waged between Hussian and Anglo-Indian merchandise
in Khorasan. I have shown that the advantage which she derives,
and will continue to derive in increasing degree, from the Trans
caspian Hailway enables Hussia to flood the markets of North-eastern
Persia with her manufactures, and to undersell her sole competitor,
viz. British India, in the bazaars of Meshed. I have shown that a
critical epoch has been reached, and that without some help, in the
shape of increased facilities of transport or shorter and cheaper trade
routes, Anglo-Indian commerce must in the long run be vanquished.
The one means by which the latter could compete on nearly even
terms with her rival would be by adopting her rival’s tactics—by
pushing forward a railway on the south to match the Transcaspian
Hailway on the north, by conveying the manufactures of Bombay
as are conveyed the manufactures of Moscow, not solely on mule-
back and camel-back over vast distances at crushing expense, but
by the potent auxiliary
agency
An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent.
of steam. Such a railway starting
from India must point, as its first objective, to Seistan.
The commercial importance of such a line will not, I think, be
denied, as bringing India into closer connection with the bazaars
of Khorasan. Not less obvious, however, would be the
strategic^ gtrategical advantage, as enabling England to occupy a
tan° e flanking position in defence of that Afghan territory
which she has undertaken to safeguard, and as preventing those
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 [208r] (418/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213844.0x000019> [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