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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [313v] (629/1814)
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.
PERSIA
402
reaches its destination, but sticks to every intervening pocket with
which a professional ingenuity can bring it into transient con
tact ; half the schemes authorised by him are never brought any
nearer to realisation, the minister or functionary in charge trusting
to the oblivious caprices of the sovereign to overlook his dereliction
of duty.
Nevertheless, whilst admitting the difficulties with which Nasr-
ed-Din Shah is surrounded, let us not fail to do full justice both to
Cruelty or his character and to his reign. He is unquestionably the
humanity sovereign that has sat upon the throne of Persia
since Kerim Khan Zend in the last century. He is the first king
of his race, and one of the few kings in Persian history, against
whom the charge of cruelty and arbitrary indifference to injustice
or suffering cannot fairly be brought. It is true that his reign has
been disfigured by one or two acts of regrettable violence; worst
among which was the murder of his first Prime Minister, Mirza Taki
Khan, the Amir-i-Nizam—a man who, although of humble origin,
was endowed with lofty sentiments, and who, in the short space of
three years (1849-1851), established a reputation for statesmanship
that constitutes him one of the most remarkable figures of the
century. The brother-in-law of the Shah, and the first subject in
the kingdom, he owed to the vindictiveness of court intrigue
and to the maliciously excited jealousy of his youthful sovereign,
a disgrace which his enemies were not satisfied until they had
fulfilled by the death of their fallen, but still formidable victim . 1
It should be said, however, that the Shah was only twenty years
of age at the time ; that it was inevitable, under the circum
stances, that a young ruler without experience should be the
instrument of unscrupulous advisers; and that he is believed ever
since to have repented of the act. The terrible acts of cruelty
that followed the suppression of the Babi conspiracy against the
life of the Shah in 1852, and of the Babi sedition in general
throughout the country, come under a different category . 2 For not
1 For the administration and murder of the Amir-i-Nizam I may refer my
readers to the pages of Markham, Watson, Lady Sheil, and Binning.
2 It was on this occasion that Mirza Agha Khan, the Grand Vizier, in order
to distribute the responsibility of punishment and to lessen the chances of blood-
revenge, conceived the extraordinary idea of assigning the several criminals for
execution to the principal ministers, generals, and officers of the Court, as well as
to representatives of the priestly and merchant classes. The Foreign Secretary
killed one, the Home Secretary another, the Master of the Horse a third, and so on.
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 [313v] (629/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213845.0x000024> [accessed 5 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