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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [357r] (716/1814)
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
485
features of probable advantage, did not at once secure the anti
cipated support . 1 I am myself aware of many other inchoate or
abortive schemes for the exploitation of various of the natural
resources of Persia, in each of which cases the concession has been
granted and paid fo r i\ but the further progress of which has beer
arrested by the sense of insecurity developed by past proceedings,
I cannot, as a friend of Persia, too strongly reiterate my conviction
that this headlong signing away of the country’s assets, in return
for a cash payment, to all the knights-errant of speculation whose
quest may lead them to Teheran, is a policy fraught neither with
principle, patriotism, nor ulterior profit.
Among the evidences of civilisation that have been, or are
capable of being, introduced into Persia, a prominent place must
Roads in be assigned to roads. Truth, unfortunately, compels the
the East discussion of this question to be couched as yet in the
future and potential, rather than in the past or present tenses ;
but this phenomenon holds good of so many Persian institutions,
as to require neither explanation nor apology. I have more than
once pointed, as one of the most conspicuous characteristics of the
East, to the total absence of anything corresponding to what we
call roads; and yet, such is either the poverty or the tyranny of
the English vocabulary, I find myself frequently using, and I
observe that others frequently use, that term to describe what is
no more than a foot-track beaten by the hoofs of horses, donkeys,
and mules. Occasionally a great Eastern sovereign of the past has
immortalised his name by constructing a paved causeway between
important cities of his dominions (such was Shah Abbas’ Causeway
through Gilan and Mazanderan, and the Atabegs’ road, probably
the survival of an earlier Sassanian construction, from Arabistan
to Ears) ; but, as a rule, roads may be classified as an institution
unknown from early times to the East, until introduced by a
European conqueror. The Romans were the road-makers of the
ancient world. The British are their heirs in the modern. The
French have constructed some admirable roads in their foreign and
colonial possessions. The Russians, though painfully in arrears,
are slowly, and at an immense distance, following suit. But in no
1 Later on, the capital having been raised, business commenced, but was
greatly impeded by native hostility, directed and aggravated by the mullahs, who
even placed an interdict on the use of the pipe. The agitation at length became
so serious that the Shah was forced to give way, and in January 1892, cancelled the
entire concession, promising pecuniary compensation for the rupture of contract.
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 [357r] (716/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213845.0x00007b> [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