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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [348r] (698/1814)
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
467
2 ) 050 post-cards, 7,455 samples, and 173,995 parcels, haying a
value of 304,72(E. The receipts for the same year were returned
as 13,764^., and the expenses as 13,298Z. From England letters
go to Persia via Berlin, and under favourable conditions are de
livered in Teheran in a few days over a fortnight.
By a curious inversion of the customary chronology (most cha
racteristic of the East, Oriental potentates having a common passion
Electric for novelty, and electric light having preceded gas alike in
Telegraph Korea and Kabul) the electric telegraph was already in
full working order throughout Persia long before a decent letter-
post had been organised. The first experiment was made by the
Government in 1859, with a line from Teheran to Sultanieh ; but
this was so badly constructed as to be soon abandoned. In 1860
followed a complete line from Teheran to Tabriz, extended in 1863
to Julfa. At this period ensued the negotiations between the
British and Persian Governments that resulted in the passage of
the main line of Indo-European Telegraph through Persia in transit
from London to Bombay. The history and the result of these
negotiations, which have profoundly affected the internal condition
of Persia, will more appropriately be discussed in a chapter dealing
with Anglo-Persian relations in the past and present; to which
accordingly I refer the inquisitive reader. Here it will be suffi
cient to say that the issue of these proceedings has been the
construction of a triple wire from Julfa to Teheran, worked by the
Indo-European Telegraph Company; and from Teheran to Bushire,
worked by a staff of the Indian Government. In addition to these
lines Persia possesses some 3,000 miles of single wire lines, in a
more or less dubious state of repair, which belong to the Govern
ment and are worked by a Persian staff. The capital is now
connected with every city or centre of importance in the kingdom •
and the prodigious effect that this has had in the consolidation
o the sovereign power will afterwards come under notice The
chief Persian lines, excluding local lines around the capital, are
lose connecting Teheran and Meshed; Meshed and Sarakhs:
° S 1 bed l Kelat-i-Nadin, and Deregez; Meshed and Kuchan;
T U rud > Astrabad j and Meshed-i-Ser; Semnan and Firuzkuh •
xazvm, Resht, and Enzeli; Resht and Khorremabad (Mazande-
ran frontier); Tabriz, Ardebil, and Ramin; Tabriz and Suj
uak Maiand, Khoi, and Urumiah; Teheran, Hamadan, and
v amkm; Hamadan, Smna, and Gerrus; Hamadan, Burujird, and
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 [348r] (698/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213845.0x000069> [accessed 13 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