Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [327v] (657/1814)
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.
426
PEKSIA
I at least shall assume the best in describing the character and nnd S I
conversations of those ministers whom I met in England and at count 1
Teheran. ^] ie w
There are at the present time seven ministers who may he fh e f
described as possessing portfolios, the division or concentration of popul
The Amin- which will strike European readers as both arbitrary
es-Suitan an( ^ eccentric. The rank of Sadr Azem, or Grand
Vizier, which has occasionally been conferred by the Shah upon his
leading adviser, is not strictly now enjoyed by any individual. 1 The
present Prime Minister is known as the Amin-es-Sultan, or Trusted
of the Sovereign, his name being Mirza Ali Askar Khan. He is a
young man of now (1891) only thirty-four years of age, who.
without the advantages of noble birth, has by his dash and ability
won for himself the foremost position in Persia, and in 1889
accompanied the Shah on his European tour as the most impor
tant personage after his royal master. The grandson of an
Armenian, and the son of an official who was originally abdar (the
‘ cup-bearer ’ of Nehemiah i. 11 ; the ‘ chief butler 5 of Genesis xl. 1)
to the Shah on his travelling and hunting excursions, but who sub
sequently rose to high favour and office, the Amin-es-Sultan now
unites in his own person the Ministries of the Interior, Court,
Customs, and Treasury, besides being Administrator of the Mint
and Governor of the
Persian Gulf
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
Ports. He is also practically
Foreign Minister as well. I met him several times, and was
favourably impressed with his intelligence, energy, and seeming
force of character. His appearance is prepossessing, he has a
frank and attractive manner, and he talks with great ease, rapidity,
and emphasis. Having, like all Persian officials of high rank, at
tained a very large fortune, partly inherited, partly acquired, he in
habits a fine residence in the capital. He makes no concealment,
at any rate to English ears, of liberal and Anglophile sympathies, \
• road
1 Upon the Shah’s accession he made Mirza Taki Khan his First Minister; but tion
the latter is said to have declined the title of Sadr Azem, and to have been con- .
tent with that of Amir-i-Nizam, or Commander-in-Chief. After his murder in ^ ®
1852, Mirza Agha Khan was appointed Sadr Azem, a title and position which he Sons
held till 1858. The Shah did not again confer the rank until 1871, when the
recipient was Mirza Husein Khan, the author of the Reuter Concession. An
official intrigue caused his fall in 1873, but he was afterwards made Minister of ^
Foreign Affairs, and received the title of Sipah Salar, another synonym for Will
Commander-in-Chief. Since 1873 there has been but one Sadr Azem, Mirza Yusuf of
Ashtiani, who was raised from the high office of Mustofi-el-Mamalek to the higher
one of Sadr Azem, and died while in occupation of that post.
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 [327v] (657/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213845.0x000040> [accessed 10 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
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