![Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎411v] (825/1814)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/Mss Eur F111_33_0837.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎411v] (825/1814)")
Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [411v] (825/1814)
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.
gyg PERSIA
in Asia, as well as a salary of 2,200L a year while in Persia. He
finally died, and was buried in the Armenian cemetery at Teheran
in February, 1851. In 1812, a rumour having reached Tabriz of
reconciliation between Great Britain and Russia in Europe, Sir
Gore Ouseley ordered the English officers in the Persian service to
take no further part in the Perso-Russian campaign still proceed
ing in Azerbaijan. Abbas Mirza, however, pleaded so urgently,
that two officers, Christie and Lindsay, and thirteen sergeants were
permitted to stay. Christie paid the penalty with his life, being
killed by a Russian officer while lying wounded on the ground, on
the battle-field of Aslanduz, in October 1812. He was succeeded
in command of the Persian infantry by Major Hart, of the Royal
army, who, till his death of cholera at Tabriz in 1830, 1 occupied a
position unequalled by that of any other British officer in Persia.
He acquired an extraordinary influence alike over the king, who
entrusted him with the money for the payment of the Azerbaijan
troops, ; having more confidence in the honour of an English
major than in that of his own son ; over Abbas Mirza, who never
failed to support him, even when he ordered the Royal Piinces to
mount guard, and gave them no rations but dry bread for three
days; and over the Persian soldiers, who, in spite of the stiict
discipline that he enforced, regarded him with respect and admiia-
tion. The termination of the Perso-Russian War by the Treaty oi
Gulistan in 1813, was followed by a third Anglo-Persian Tieaty,
signed at Teheran in November 1814. in pursuance of the terms of
which the British Government continued to supply officers for
drill and discipline, arms and munitions of warfare, and the
material and workmen for a foundry at Tabriz, where guns and
shot of every description were cast, gun-carriages built, and very
tolerable powder manufactured at a cost of 4L per lb., in a mill
outside the town. 2 * * The war with Russia being, however, at an
end, and no immediate peril overhanging, Abbas Mirza, who was
1 He died on the same day in June, 1830, as the British Minister, Sir John Mac
donald Kinneir. Having expired outside the city, and the Persians having a pre
judice against the conveyance of corpses through city gates, his body was dressed
in full uniform, and brought in, sitting upright, as if alive, in a taKktA-ramn, or
litter, for interment in the Armenian Church.
2 Sir J. Sheil spoke very favourably of the foundry and arsenal of Tabriz; but
Fraser, in 1821, delivered the following uncomplimentary verdict: ‘ The arsenal
of Abbas Mirza is on a scale more suited to the shooting closet of a piivate gen
tleman than the magazine of a state .’—Journey into Klwrasan, pp. 223-30.
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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 [411v] (825/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213846.0x000020> [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