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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [372v] (747/1814)
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.
510
PERSIA
Finally, let me speak of the attitude of the Persian Govern
ment towards the Jews. Five years ago the number of Jews in
The Jews Persia was conjecturally returned as 19,000 ; but I incline
in Persia pp e opinion that this total is below the mark. I have,
indeed, been supplied with a table m which their total census is
fixed at 65,000, but this appears to be a gross exaggeration. The
chief centres of Jewish residence are Teheran (4,000), Hamadan
(2,000), Isfahan (3,700), Shiraz (3,000), Urumiah, Meshed, Kashan,
Saveh, Kermanshah, and Bushire.
As a community, the Persian Jews are sunk in great poverty
and ignorance. They have no schools of their own, except in the
Backward synagogues, where they are only taught to repeat their
condition p ra y e rs, which the majority do not understand. Except
in Teheran, Hamadan, Kashan, Khonsar, and Gulpaigan only
Hebrew is taught, and not Persian. Such as can read or write the
language of the country have studied it privately. In Hamadan,
about a hundred young men receive tuition in the school of the
American Mission ; in Teheran, about fifteen study foreign lan
guages under similar auspices. In Isfahan, a converted Jew of
Teheran, Mirza Nurullah by name, who has been educated in Eng
land, has recently started a school, where he instructs about twenty
young men in Hebrew, Persian, and English.
Throughout the Mussulman countries of the East these unhappy
people have been subjected to the persecution which custom has
taught themselves, as well as the world, to regard as their
Disabilities , TT ,, n t . 0
and perse- normal lot. u sually compelled to live apart m a Ghetto, or
separate quarter of the towns, they have from time im
memorial suffered from disabilities of occupation, dress, and habits,
which have marked them out as social pariahs from their fellow
creatures. The majority of Jews in Persia are engaged in trade,
in jewellery, in wine and opium manufacture, as musicians, dancers,
scavengers, pedlars, and in other professions to which is attached
no great respect. They rarely attain to a leading mercantile posi
tion. In Isfahan, where there are said to be 3,700, and where they
occupy a relatively better status than elsewhere in Persia, they are
not permitted to wear the Ivolah or Persian head-dress, to have
shops in the bazaar, to build the walls of their houses as high as a
Moslem neighbour’s, or to ride in the streets. In Teheran and
Kashan they are also to be found in large numbers and enjoying
a fair position. In Shiraz they are very badly off. At Bushire
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 [372v] (747/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213845.0x00009a> [accessed 21 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