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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [353v] (709/1814)
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.
478 PERSIA
»
of the attempt made by Thai-tsu of the Sung Dynasty to introduce
paper money into China three centuries before, and of its revival
in that country within the last fifty years; a proceeding with
which we have been rendered familiar by the writings of the learned
Venetian, and of Ibn Batutah, the Moor of Tangier. The Persian
Mongol, finding himself over two millions sterling in debt, conceived
the bright idea that, by issuing a paper currency, which would be
bought by his faithful subjects, all the gold and silver in the kino--
dom would flow into the royal exchequer; while the paper would
become the universal medium of exchange. For this purpose a
royal edict was issued, forbidding the circulation of the precious
metals as currency. Banks, called, after the Chinese name Chow-
hhaneh, were erected at Tabriz and other places ; and notes, or Chow
were issued for sums varying from |tZ. to 4s. 7h., bearing a Moham
medan inscription and the value written in a circle upon them, and
the imperial mandate to accept this novel currency. The subjects of
Kei Khatu were, however, less docile or more wide-awake than he
had anticipated. A howl of universal execration greeted the promul
gation of the scheme; the minister who had suggested it was torn to
pieces by an infuriated mob ; and within three days the decree was
repealed, and the first Persian experiment of paper money igno-
miniously expired.
Warned by this example, or timorous of empirical finance, no
subsequent Persian sovereign repeated the experiment of the Mongol.
Modern Indeed, in the present century, the introduction of the
opinion Russian paper rouble into Persia was regarded with the
gravest suspicion by the ruling powers as an insidious attempt to
drain the country of its silver and gold. So strong did this feeling
become that, in 188b, the Shah actually issued a royal edict which
declared that c the people are very foolish who take dirty pieces of
paper for gold and silver, and in future all Russian rouble notes will
be confiscated. Like many royal decrees, this was fortunately
allowed to become a dead letter almost as soon as promulgated.
It is, therefore, in the face of inauspicious historical omens, and
among a people and court whose ideas of finance are rudimentary,
Notes of that the Imperial Bank has started upon this part of its
imperial programme. Some time was spent in selecting a suitable
Bank anc i handsome design; and in 1890 the new bank
notes, having a Persian inscription with the badge of the Lion
and the Sun on one side, and an English inscription with the
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 [353v] (709/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213845.0x000074> [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