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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [347r] (696/1814)
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.
INSTITUTIONS AND REFORMS
465
engine to others, to whom speed has hitherto been unknown. Nor
must the sower expect an immediate harvest from all his seed.
Among the reforms successfully introduced by the present Shah,
I have already noticed in other contexts, the institution of a city
Petition- police in Teheran, and the reconstruction and embellish
ment of the capital itself. Among those unsuccessfully
attempted, I have drawn attention to administrative reorgani
sation, the institution of judicial tribunals, and the codification
of the law. To the latter class also belongs an amiable but
ephemeral device that was one of the results of the first European
journey of the Shah. Aware that much injustice existed which
never reached his ears, and acting in unconscious imitation of
the old Venetian practice, when petitions to the Council of Ten
were placed in the mouth of a stone lion, he ordered petition-boxes
to be exposed once a month in the public place of the larger towns.
The keys were kept in his custody, and the boxes were to be
opened in his presence. But the Persian provincial governor was
not to be got the better of by so transparent a machinery. He
promptly ordered a watch to be kept on the boxes; and the basti
nado was freely administered to any indiscreet person dropping in
a petition. Wherefore the petition-boxes remained permanently
empty, and the Shah felicitated himself upon the singular content
ment of his subjects.
The reforms to which I now turn belong to a class that is not
associated in the Western imagination with any very advanced
Scheme of degree of national progress, but that marks a considerable
chapter forward move in a country such as the Persia of Malcolm,
of Morier, and of Ouseley. They will include the institution of a
letter-post, of the electric telegraph, of newspapers, of a govern
ment mint and a new currency, of European banks, of commercial
and other concessions, of manufactured roads, and of higher educa
tion. The opportunity will also present itself of saying something
about the state of religious feeling in the country. Railroads will
be reserved for a separate chapter.
Down to the year 1874 the postal system of Persia 1 * * * was in
the hands of the chapar chi-bash is, or masters of the post-houses, who
1 For information upon this subject, vide articles by J. E Polak in Oester
re^u^e mnaUscWftfurden Orient, 1876, pp. 186-8; by G. Riederer in
iS^S pp.17-—; by Herr von Godel Lannoy in ibid. 1881, pp. 176-9 ; and by Andreas
and Stolze m PetermamCs MUtheilungen, 1885, pp. 30-2. 7
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 [347r] (696/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213845.0x000067> [accessed 5 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