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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [315v] (633/1814)
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.
406
PERSIA
Its condition is bad enough viewed from the standpoint of pubf
works, education, or internal development. But life and nr
are fairly secure, brigandage is scarcely known, robbery and violence
(at any rate upon Europeans) are rarely attempted; revenue '
exacted even from the nomad and mountainous tribes ; the provincial
Governors are thoroughly under control and quake at the vibrations
of the telegraph wire from Teheran ; the Shah is supreme from the
Caspian to the Gulf, and from the Kurdish mountains to Seistan •
and there is not a single man in the kingdom who dare venture
either his voice or his position against the sovereign. Hitherto, again
the death of the monarch has almost invariably been the signal for
a general outbreak ; rival candidates for the throne have appeared in
arms; and there has been a horrid interval of anarchy and turbulence
until the superior genius or resources of one competitor have enabled
him to win the day. When Path Ali Shah died in 1834, there were
two claimants of the throne in the field in addition to the rightful heir
Mohammed Shah ; and it was only owingto the inexhaustible energy
and influence of Sir John Campbell, then British Minister, and to the
assistance of the British officers in command of the Persian troops,
that he was able so soon to establish his legitimate claim. Simi
larly, when Mohammed Shah died in 1848 rebellions broke out
in Khorasan, Kerman, Yezd, and Isfahan, and it was mainly to the
joint co-operation of the British and Russian Ministers that Nasr-
ecl-Din was indebted for his speedy recognition. Such has been
the experience of the last two accessions to the crown. If the
present Shah were to die to-morrow there might be isolated acts
of lawlessness or violence, but I do not credit the likelihood of any
general insurrection; I foresee no warring competition for the
tin one; and I believe that the Heir Apparent would succeed with
out firing a musket or shedding a drop of blood.
Secondly, if we take the period covered by the present reign
and contrast the state of Persia at the beginning and end of this
Compari- epoch, we shall note a marked advance in many of the
between ^sources of civilisation, culture, comfort, and security.
1848 and In the year after Nasr-ed-Din Shah ascended the throne
the following sentences were penned by the greatest
living authority on the Persian question :—
In every quarter there is abundant cause for anxiety, and few, very
few, faint glimmerings of hope. The treasury has been drained of its
last ducat, and we see little chance of its being replenished. The
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 [315v] (633/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213845.0x000028> [accessed 17 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