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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [354v] (711/1814)
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
480 PERSIA
exchange agents, and to other causes, have been remedied, and a
far greater steadiness may be predicated of the Persian money
market as a whole. The report at the end of the second year
(September 1891) did not, perhaps, fully answer the expectations
that had been formed; but substantial progress was recorded, and
a dividend equal to five per cent, was declared. It is to be hoped
that the bank will, before long, acquire control of the mint, in
order to secure an efficient currency and to put an end to the
reactionary abuses of the present system.
I have had occasion to mention the original and famous Reuter
Concession of 1872, which produced such a sensation in Europe;
_ and both in order that a contrast may be drawn between
Concession its provisions and those of the Imperial Bank’s concession
and as the most conspicuous historical sample of the
fortuitous fashion in which Persia seeks redemption, I may here be
permitted to recapitulate what were its leading features. As a
railway scheme I shall not now notice it, though the construction
of a Grand Trunk Railway through Persia, and the monopoly of all
future railroads in the country, were among its most important
features, reserving any remarks upon that head for a future chapter.
The Reuter scheme was the culminating product of a phase of
sincere and zealous Anglophilism at Teheran. Designed as the
crowning act of the policy of Mirza Husein Khan, the powerful Sadr
Azem, or Grand Vizier, who then guided the councils of the Shah, it
summed up a programme which, in the words of Sir H. Rawlinson , 1
‘ was aimed at the regeneration of Persia through the identification
of her interests with those of Great Britain . 5 The concession was
dated July 25, 1872. When published to the world, it was found
to contain the most complete and extraordinary surrender of the
entire industrial resources of a kingdom into foreign hands that
has probably ever been dreamed of, much less accomplished,
in history. Exclusive of the clauses referring to railroads and
tramways, which conferred an absolute monopoly of both those
under takings upon Baron de Reuter for the space of seventy years,
the concession also handed over to him the exclusive working for
the same period of all Persian mines, except those of gold, silver,
and precious stones ; the monopoly of the government forests, all
uncultivated land being embraced under that designation; the
1 By far the best account of the Reuter Concession is to be found in his Eng
land and Russia in the East, pp. 122-8.
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 [354v] (711/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213845.0x000076> [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