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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [339v] (681/1814)
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.
PERSIA
460
them are unpaid; they attach themselves to their master because
of the opportunities for extortion with which that connection
presents them, and they thrive and batten on plunder. It ma y
readily be conceived how great a drain is this swarm of blood
suckers upon the resources of the country. They are true types
of unproductive labourers, absorbing but never creating wealth *
and their existence is little short of a national calamity.
The same feature that prevails in the private household of an
important functionary is carried into the official departments and
Bureau- serv i ce °f State. Every minister, every
cracy governor, every petty official, is surrounded by an immense
staff of
munshis
A term used in the Middle East, Persia and South Asia to refer to a secretary, assistant or amanuensis. Munshis were employed in the British administration in the Gulf.
, mirzas, and mustofis, i.e. clerks, secretaries, and
accountants. There is no proper division of labour; confusion
and lack of system prevail everywhere. This enormous staff of
civil servants justifies itself by no reports, and produces no statistics;
official returns, tables, schedules, or calculations either do not
exist at all or, if they do, exist in a deceptive shape. There
is no means of arriving even at an approximate estimate of so
elementary a fact as the population of the country. The figures
which I elsewhere print of revenue and taxation have been derived
from official sources; but though probably correct in themselves, I
cannot tell what omissions they may contain, or how far it is legiti
mate to make them a basis of induction. Baron Teufenstein, the
Austrian Governor of Saveh, whom I have before quoted, thus
described the routine of official life :—
A Ministry in Persia consists of the minister and some scribes,
without any determinate place of office, or any of the apparatus that
appears indispensable to Europeans. The bureau is set up at what
ever spot the minister happens to be, whether in his house, or in an
ante-room, or a court of the Royal Palace, or perchance in the street
or in a coffee-house. A swarm of scribes buzzes after the chief on all
his marches, each bearing with him in his pocket the necessary writing
apparatus and documents. Accordingly, an office can be rigged up
any or everywhere in a trice. In the pockets of such a mirza are often
to be found the documents of a series of years past, consisting of little
scraps of paper which he has come to regard as private, and in no sense
official, property. 1
My readers will not be surprised to learn that the reforms which
Baron Teufenstein laboriously introduced into the administration of
1 Petermann'8 Mittheilungen (Andreas and Stolze), 1885.
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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 [339v] (681/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213845.0x000058> [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