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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [409v] (821/1814)
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.
574
PERSIA
dreadful to the Turks, now also in remoter blowes and sulfurian arts
are growne terrible. 1
Pietro della Yalle, who was in Persia at the time, speaks of the
newly enrolled infantry as fusiliers, owning their origin to Sir
Anthony Sherley, recruited from the lower orders of the country,
and receiving their pay quarterly from the king. He describes
them as a very useful body, 20,000 strong, and adds that ‘in the
beginning they were on the foot, but were afterwards mounted and
armed with matchlocks and a fork to fire from.’ From another
source we learn that after Sir Anthony’s departure Robert was
made ‘ Master General against the Turks ; ’ and that upon his
return to Persia from a mission to the European powers in 1612,
he brought with him from England ‘ Captain Thomas Powel of
Hertfordshire, who was Colonel of 700 horse under the Persian.’
It is interesting at this early date to read of English officers in
the service of the Shah ; and to know that English counsels were
responsible for the earliest modern reform in the military organi-
sation of Persia.
Nevertheless, throughout this and the succeeding century, the
Persian army retained for the most part its original and almost
Decline immemorial organisation as a loose collection of irregular
under the ca valry contingents. Even under Shah Abbas, when the
Sefavi army was at its best, there prevailed the most complete
ignorance of scientific warfare, and battles were little else
than desultory cavalry engagements on a large scale. In the
campaign against Ormuz, which the Persians waged in conjunction
with the English in 1622, the latter were amazed at the ignorance
and backwardness of their allies. 2 Chardin says that, at the death
of Shah Abbas, the effective strength of the army was 150,000
(50,000 Koyal troops and 70,000 Provincial troops); Pietro
della Valle says it consisted of 97,000 cavalry; but Herbert,
though he advances larger nominal totals, also supplies a becoming
corrective*
1 Purchas’ Pilgrims, vol. ii. p. 1806.
2 Edward Monoxe, the agent of the East India Company at Ormuz, wrote as
follows (Purchas’ Pilgrims, vol. ii. lib. x. cap. 9) : ‘ The Persians are ignorant of
the art of warre, for they entred without feare or wit, and lost with shame what
they might have maintayned with honour. Other defects I observed in the very
sinewes of warre, such that I cannot but wonder that one of the Wonders of our
Age, Sha Abas, should send over an Armie so weakly provided of money, armes,
munition, ships, and all necessary furniture.’
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 [409v] (821/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213846.0x00001c> [accessed 5 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