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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [360v] (723/1814)
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.
492
PERSIA
manual labour, with the aid of rollers. On carts, weights up to at
least 700 kilos, would be transportable. Such an undertaking under
European control would be sure of the grandest success, enlarolno-
it would, the market range of all the cheaper products at least three
fold. The roads would doubtless require improvement, calling for out
lay of capital. But be it remembered how cheap labour is in Persia
and how the material for road repair is everywhere to be had for
nothing . 1
I have been surprised, in my studies of works on Persia, to note
how small is the attention that has been bestowed by their writers
Persian upon the subject of the national education. With the
education consc i otls superiority of a civilised standard, it is simple
enough to expose and to denounce the abuses of an Oriental system
But while complaining of the stupidity of the Persians for not at
once recognising the beneficent contents of the cornucopia which is
offered to them by Europe, ought not such critics to go a little
further, and to examine the foundations of the system upon
which is built up the fabric of national prejudice which it is so easy
to condemn ? Persian character may be obstinate, or retrograde, or
perfidious, but, like every other character, it is the product of a
system; and if we are to turn our batteries upon its walls, had we
not better ascertain of what material they are made ? I have even
seen it stated—a rash generalisation from the universal existence of
education of a sort, without regard to what sort—that the lower
classes in Persia are the best educated in the East. A more
grotesque paradox could not, I believe, be uttered. A mere
ability to lead and write the native language, however widespread
it may be, acquaintance in the higher classes with the Koran or
the Persian classics, carry with them no adaptation to a different
i e or to liberal propensities. Amid the heroic schemes which a
undied miracle-mongers propose for the revivification of the country
no one seems to think of the schools, or to suggest that better teachers,
a wider curriculum, different' class books, are needed to make the
next to eneiation other than the present. A familiarity with the ways
and standards of civilisation will breed an anxiety for a share in its
advantages which no amount of diplomatic manipulation can implant.
1 had any voice m the so-called regeneration of Persia, I would
7 ,°.j img out a company in London, but I would organise a coup
d etat in tlie village schools.
PetermanrCs Mittheilungen, 1885 , pp. 51—6.
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 [360v] (723/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213845.0x000082> [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