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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [356v] (715/1814)
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.
484
PERSIA
the Shah, these proposals are peculiarly seductive; for, in any case,
they mean the payment of a lump sum down to his own account; if
successful, they augment the annual revenue ; and if the reverse,
they only implicate foreigners in failure.
Whilst applauding the policy of assisting Persia by foreign
capital where she cannot assist herself, and in enterprises of un
questioned stability, I am of opinion that she is more likely to lose
than to gain from the indiscriminate gift of commercial concessions,
and that her best advisers should check any premature zeal in this
direction. The first concessionary usually thinks of little but selling
his monopoly, and realising a good profit for himself. He is not
uncommonly an adventurer, and sometimes a rogue. By the failure
of such bogus undertakings, good capital is frightened away from
the country, and the natives themselves form an unfavourable
impression of European conduct and honesty. The internal develop
ment of Persia will fare much better if it follows the broad lines of
road and railroad extension, rather than imperil its chances by
grotesque monopolies and fanciful concessions to vagrant chevaliers
diindus trie.
An unfortunate, but significant, illustration of the truth of the
above remarks, which appeared originally in the c Times,’ was
Recent afforded by a case that occurred almost simultaneously
schemes with my visit to Persia. One among the numerous con
cessions of the class thab I have described had been granted by
the Shah—who had received his douceur —for the introduction, inter
alia, of State lotteries into Persia ; but this concession had subse
quently been cancelled in consequence of the inclusion of other and
less desirable items in its terms. In apparent ignorance of these
facts, the concession was disposed of to a syndicate, and again
passed on to a company (the Persian Investment Corporation),
whose final collapse agitated the London market in 1890; the
result of the entire series of transactions, the moral blame of which
I do not pretend to distribute, being that a great shock was given
to Persian credit and that capital was scared away from Persian
investment. Hence it arose that, when in the autumn of the same
year a large scheme was brought out for the formation of the
4 Imperial lobacco Corporation of Persia,’ to acquire and work a
concession for a monopoly of the purchase, sale, and manufacture of.
the entire tobacco crop of the Persian Empire, this project, though
warmly commended by high authorities and possessing many
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 [356v] (715/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213845.0x00007a> [accessed 6 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