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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [320v] (643/1814)
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.
r ---
416 PERSIA
I now turn to the best-known son of the Shah, Sultan Ma^rul
Mirza (Prince Felicitous), more commonly known by the title of
The Zil-es- the Zil-es-Sultan, or Shadow of the King—a misnomer
Sultan i n this case, seeing that he is very nearly double his
father’s size. Three years older than the Crown Prince, having
been born in 1850, he is yet disqualified from the succession to
the throne by reason of his plebeian origin on the maternal side
of which I have previously spoken. Though not destined to rule
as sovereign, this prince has, from youth upwards, been allowed to
ape the part, and to wield the functions, of sovereignty with a
freedom that could not fail to encourage extravagant pretensions,
and that ultimately led to his downfall. At a very early age he
was made Governor of Isfahan, and afterwards of Shiraz. As the
years passed by, he grew in favour and authority. His stern and
savage rule, which effectually repressed disorder and brigandage
in the provinces under his control, and the punctuality of his
remittances of revenue to Teheran, caused him to be regarded
with peculiar gratification at Court. Province after province was
added to his dominions, until Pars, Isfahan, Kurdistan, Luristan,
Arabistan, and Yezd were all subject to his sway. 1 It was calcu
lated that, prior to his fall, 250,000 square miles, or two-fifths of
the whole of Persia, were beneath his rule. Simultaneously, he
collected and controlled a great army at Isfahan, for which he
adopted Prussian uniforms and piclcelhaube helmets—a dress in
which he was very fond of being photographed himself, in full
general’s uniform. In 1886 the troops under his command
amounted (I give the actual, not the nominal, figures) to twenty-
four regiments of infantry, containing 15,800 men, with 6,000
breech-loading rifles, 10 batteries of artillery, and 8 regiments of
irregular cavalry, or a total of nearly 21,000 men and 7,000
horses. Residing, as Governor, at Isfahan, he was constantly in
terviewed by English travellers, to whom he invariably professed
the most liberal and Anglophile sentiments. The severity of his
administration, by which the turbulent tribesmen of the western
provinces were kept in fair order, and his manly bearing, created
1 The provinces or districts of which he was actually the governor in 1886 were
Gulpaigan and Khonsar, Joshagan, Irak, Isfahan, Ears, Yezd, Arabistan, Luristan,
Kurdistan, Kangavar, Nihavend, Kamareh, Burujird, Kermanshah, Asadabad,
Kezzaz. Their revenue amounted in the same year (reckoning three
tomans
10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value.
as
1Z., according to the then rate 'of exchange) to 599,400Z. in cash, and 73,800Z. in
grain, or a total of 673,200Z.
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 [320v] (643/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213845.0x000032> [accessed 9 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