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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [316r] (634/1814)
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.
i
i *
THE SHAH— ROYAL FAMILY—MINISTERS 407
sustaining or motive power of the Government no longer exists, nor
can it be renewed. The general condition of the provinces is hardly
less unfavourable to the consolidation of the young monarch’s power
than an empty treasury and impotent and divided councils. In no
quarter is there any feeling of confidence in the stability of the Govern
ment. A domestic crisis may be imminent, and cannot be very far
distant r 1
Nevertheless, the subsequent period has not ratified these
gloomy vaticinations. There is a balance in the Royal Ex
chequer, regrettable though it be that it should swell by idle
increment instead of being devoted to the service of the people.
The Government is secure, strong, and respected. The provinces,
as I have shown, are in thorough subordination. No membei
of the Royal Family has ventured to dispute the supremacy of
the Shah. Simultaneously there has been a considerable, even
if inadequate, expansion of commerce. The telegraph wire has
been stretched between all the principal towns; regular posts
have been inaugurated ; newspapers of an official character axe
published in the capital; a miniature railway, which may perhaps
become the nucleus of a great undertaking, has been built, gas
is manufactured at Teheran. The critic of the present finds plenty
that is backward and a good deal that is deplorable in the con-^
dition of the country. Of these abuses I shall presently speak.
But the historian, contrasting the Persia of the two periods, will
record an advance, small as measured by European ideas, but by
no means contemptible according to the standards of the East.
Before I quit the subject of the Shah and his personality,
may briefly recapitulate the incidents of an interview with which
I was honoured in the Palace at Teheran. The Shah, to whom I
had been previously introduced in England, received me in the
room in which stands the so-called Peacocx Throne.
withthe 6 There was no other article of furniture in the chamber,
Shah and the King was standing alone in the middle. He wore
black trousers and a black coat, edged with astrakhan,, thick with
gold cording in front, and equipped with voluminous skirts. Upon
the face of his Tcolah^ or sheepskin hat, was a small Lion and Sun
diamonds, a recent commission from a Parisian jeweller. Whereas
in England he had employed French, which however he re shy m
using in conversation, he now spoke in Persian, through an inter
1 Sir H. Rawlinson, England and Russia in the East, p. 75 .
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 [316r] (634/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213845.0x000029> [accessed 4 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