![Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎336v] (675/1814)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/Mss Eur F111_33_0686.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎336v] (675/1814)")
Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [336v] (675/1814)
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.
444
PERSIA
It may be wondered why a system that seems to press so
hardly upon the taxpayers, who are in a numerical majority and
Keasons of which is attended with such obvious injustice, should be
popuiai: mildly acquiesced in by a people who have never been
escence slow at rebellion. I conceive the reason in part to lie
in the fact that, from one point of view, Persia is the most demo
cratic country in the world. Lowness of birth or station is
positively not the slightest bar to promotion or office of the most
exalted nature. Nor must it necessarily, as. in European coun
tries, be compensated or supplemented by distinguished abilities
Interest or the capacity to pay is sufficient to procure a post for
anyone, even of menial origin. Many a Persian governor has
started by filling a subordinate post in the household or retinue
of some great man, and has passed through every grade of society
before arriving at the top. The present Grand Vizier, as I have
shown, was himself of humble descent, while his father was an
attendant in the royal household. The Prime Minister who
accompanied the Shah on his first visit to Europe was the grand
son of a barber, and the great Amir-i-Nizam, Mirza Taki Khan,
was the son of a cook. Consequently, every man sees a chance of
some day profiting by the system of which he may for the moment
be the victim, and as the present hardship or exaction is not to be
compared in ratio with the pecuniary advantage which he may
ultimately expect to reap, he is willing to bide his time, and to
trust to the fall of the dice in the future.
A second fact which may variously be regarded as a reason
for the continuance, and as a product of the existence, of this
system is the low and inadequate figure of official salaries
in Persia. In most cases, the government allowance is
sufficient for little more than household expenses, and
takes no thought of the personal remuneration of the official.
What a grudging treasury declines to give, mudakhil, it is well
Meagre
ness of
official
salaries
understood, is intended to supply, and were it conceivable that by
some miraculous transformation of Persian character, or by a
decree from some iconoclastic sovereign, this most sacred of insti
tutions should perish without a corresponding rise at the same
time of fifty per cent, in official salaries, the machine of govern
ment would be brought to a standstill. Quite apart, therefore,
from the inherent popularity of a system by which all aspire to
profit, so long as a miserly sovereign sits upon the throne, and the
treasur
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chase £
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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 [336v] (675/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213845.0x000052> [accessed 1 July 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