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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [360r] (722/1814)
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
491
ports, with the removal of arbitrary restrictions upon commerce,
and with the assurance of security to life and property upon the
caravan routes. Later on he hopes for the gradual introduction of
railways, commencing experimentally in the regions most likely to
give a mercantile return, and extending by slow degrees tlnough-
out the country. The more impetuous nature would like to carry
Persia by storm, to throw down her walls by trumpet-blast, and
to open her doorways to the world by a network of railways,
connecting with those of India, Turkey, and Pussia, and trans
porting her at a bound into the van of civilised nations. A mean
may very practically be discovered between the two ideas. The
Persian Government may reasonably be pressed, or, if it be found
unwilling, foreign capital may be enlisted, to undertake the proper
opening up of the natural channels of communication. Did the
Shah’s Government show the least genuine earnestness in the
matter, there is quite sufficient money in the country, without
appealing to Europe for a sixpence, to initiate and to carry through
these by no means costly undertakings. Persians possessed of
means would be willing enough to invest in their own country, did
they not feel that it was like throwing money down a Imnat. The
absence, however, of any State guarantee, and the general insecurity
of property, prevent, and will probably continue to prevent, any
such employment of native capital on a large scale. Until a better
regime is inaugurated in the country, the necessity of foreign
assistance will continue to be felt.
It is noteworthy that Messrs. Andreas and Stolze, after their
seven years’ official or semi-official experience of Persia, concluded
their resume of the industrial condition of that country
Messrs.
Andreas
by the strongest possible recommendation of such road
and stolze wor ^. g ag j indicated or described. They said :—
The caravan tracks are designed only for beasts of burden, and are
only passable by them with difficulty. Yet there is no doubt that it
would be possible to discover roads upon which, with comparatively
little improvement, large two-wheeled carts might pass from the coast
to the mountain terraces and to the plateau proper. It would be of
great advantage to have the goods remaining in the cart until they
reach their destination, in place of the reckless daily unlading of
the mules. In the second place, bales of over 75 kilos, have now
to be transported on litters, and accordingly pay double carriage,
while packages of more than 250 kilos, have to be hauled along by
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 [360r] (722/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213845.0x000081> [accessed 10 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