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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [362v] (727/1814)
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.
496
PERSIA
There is also a college, nominally on a similar plan, at Tabr'
but, in the absence of direct Royal supervision, it is ill-attended'
Provincial ancl not much work is done. At Isfahan a college w ’
colleges opened by the Zil-es-Sultan, under the direction of^
Persian officer who had passed the examination of an artillery lieu 8,
tenant at Fontainebleau.
Such is the modest scope of liberal education that is open to the
subjects of the Shah. The Royal College at Teheran is an excellent
Limited institution in its way, but, standing practically alone it
scope i s on f ar too small a scale to have any appreciable effect
in leavening the lump. It is disappointing to think that, in the
forty years of the Shah’s reign, more progress has not been made
and that, while the crumbs of European knowledge are dispensed
to the few, the old, stale loaves of Mussulman lore are still thought
food enough and to spare for the many.
Of the religion of Persia, of the precepts of the creed of Islam
and of the differences, ceremonial, practical, and dogmatic, between
Religious the Shiah and the Sunni persuasions, I purposely say
questions nothing in this book. There are few writers on Persia
who have not entertained their readers with disquisitions on the
subject, and those who are desirous of the rudiments of information
thereupon may confidently be referred to the pages of a score of
writers infinitely better qualified to handle the matter than I.
There are, however, three questions, closely connected with the state
of religious feeling m Persia and possessing a peculiar interest for
foreigners, upon which the majority of authors have either been
si ent or, at least, inadequate, and which, in a work dealing with
contemporary thought and action, require to be mentioned. These
are the present condition of the Babi movement, the attitude of
Persia towards Christian missionary enterprise, and the state of
reigious toleration towards other non-Moslem persuasions. In
c i° these case^ some clue may be found to the interpretation of
modern Persian life, some straw to show which way the wind is
setting m Iran.
oth about the history and the dogma of the Babi movement
g eat confusion and much error have prevailed among European,
movement ® s P eci a% English, writers, of whom Binning and
rpi ar am? 01 lns f a nce, have gone conspicuously astray.
e ear y istory of a schism, particularly if visited with prompt
1 secution, is apt to become involved in mystery and to suffer
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 [362v] (727/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213845.0x000086> [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