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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [373r] (748/1814)
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 DEFORMS
511
they are prosperous and free from persecution. As soon, however,,
as any outburst of bigotry takes place in Persia or elsewhere, the
Jews are apt to be the first victims. Every man’s hand is then
against them ; and woe betide the luckless Hebrew who is the first
to encounter a Persian street mob. I have already related the
circumstances of the forced conversion fifty years ago of the Jews
in Meshed. During the absence of the Shah in Europe in 1889, a
fanatical disturbance took place in Shiraz and Isfahan, largely
instigated by the clerical firebrand, Sheikh Agha Nejefi, whom I
have mentioned, in the course of which a Jew was killed in the
streets, and his murderer was at first suffered to go scot-free, and
finally only sentenced to the bastinado. The Sheikh, by way of
improving or embittering the situation, took upon himself to pro
mulgate a series of archaic disabling laws against the Jews of
Isfahan, in which odious restrictions were imposed upon their food,
dress, habits, life, fortune, inheritance, and trade. The Zil-es-
Sultan was afraid to move for fear of endangering his position. It
was largely in consequence of this outbreak that an influential
deputation from the Anglo-Jewish Association waited upon the
Shah while in London, and presented to him a memorial on the
subject of their co-religionists in Persia. The Shah gave assurances
of protection, which were much needed, and which, it is to be hoped ?
will be carried out.
This slight sketch of the condition of religious liberty in Persia
will have shown that, universal as is the spirit of scepticism among
the intelligent classes, conciliatory as is the attitude of
the Government towards Christian sects who keep to
themselves and do not interfere with others, and decadent though
the power of the mullahs has become in contrast with their former
pride, the hold of Islam, as a system over Persia, is not seriously
weakened, fanaticism can still be played upon by adroit fingers,
and the day is yet far distant, when, if ever, the Crescent will be
supplanted in Iran by the Cross.
Note on the Peksian Currency
(from ‘Banking in Persia,' ly J. Rabino, in the ‘ Journal of the Institute of
Bankers] December 1891).
The story of Persian currency, like that of all eastern countries, is a story of
depreciation, and in great measure of debasement. Etymology gives us in Persia
a lesson in economic history. I have spoken frequently of a
toman
10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value.
, which is
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 [373r] (748/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213845.0x00009b> [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