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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [344v] (691/1814)
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.
460
PERSIA
Courts of Justice for the couduct of civil jurisprudence. 1 I can
find no trace either of their subsequent or of their present exist
ence. In 1875, after the return of the Shah from his first visit to
Europe, he introduced Councils of Administration, which were
intended to assist the local authorities in the task of government
to check injustice or corruption on their part, and to counteract
the legal prerogative of the clergy. But the mullahs, who saw
their reign threatened, succeeded in persuading the people that
such European innovations would deprive them of the slender
protection they now enjoyed against the arbitrary government of
the official classes, and created such a storm of opposition that the
project was abandoned. After the Shah’s second visit to Europe,
another equally well-meaning, but equally futile, endeavour was
made. On this occasion it was the institution of last or sanctuary,
which I have described in the chapter upon Meshed, that was most
deservedly attacked; that which was originally designed as a
safeguard against the arbitrary exercise of power having* de
generated into a scandal of the worst description. Orders were
issued from Teheran that ‘ sanctuary 5 was to be done away with;
and that courts of justice were to be established. But the execu
tion of the decree being committed to ‘ old hands 5 deeply pledged
to the system under whose iniquities they had prospered, nothing
more was heard of the projected reform, which quietly vanished
from existence. Undeterred by these previous failures, and with
a serenity that bespeaks either a very sanguine or a verv careless
disposition the Shah, in May 1888, took another step in the
direction of reform. He issued the following Royal Proclamation
to. a11 P^mcia! governors, by whom it was posted in the
principal telegraph stations throughout the country :
,, • i i £ . x . ° U C1AUUW «« our blessed nature with
the attributes of justice and benignity and ordained us the manifestor
Nation' f ordinances and power, and has especially committed
of Freedom ° o>-ir all-sufficient guardianship the lives and property of
Property 1 *'^ fyfff oi the divinely-guarded Empire of Iran'S in
in disohar &ra f t! 6 i°t ^ ^ ^ glft ’ W6 consider incumbent on us,
to fr h 0 V :: d " tleS lmp0ses on us > to relax nothing in ensuring
preservS t tl gd °n ^ of ^ir rights and th^
and to sol ” fT/TT Pr ° Perty fr ° m molesteti °“ by oppressors,
ana to spare no efforts to the end i i r
nat the people, secure m their per-
Ghmpses of Life and Manners in Persia, p. 169.
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 [344v] (691/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213845.0x000062> [accessed 17 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