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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎425v] (853/1814)

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. .

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602
PERSIA
of 9-centimetre, at Isfahan eight of 8-centimetre, two of 7-centi
metre, and 17 others at the various frontier posts; while at the
latter are also distributed 200 old smooth-bores of the antiquated
and valueless character already described. The superior g ung
seldom, if ever, taken out of the arsenal, and the men are conse
quently quite untrained in working them. Of regular field batteries
with full complement of horses there are none. I saw a large
number of steel shells in the arsenal, the material of which /wts
informed had come from mines in Mazanderan.
The arms of the line are even inferior to those of the artillery
The bulk of the infantry are armed with the old muzzle-loading
Arms and percussion-cap musket known as Brown Bess, which was
ammuni- in use in England before the Crimean war and in Prussia
tdl 1863. . In the frontier provinces, such as Seistan and
Khorasan, the militia still carry matchlocks of a palteozoic pattern,
which they fire from pronged rests, projecting like hayforks from the
underside of the barrel. Stored in the Teheran arsenal for great
occasions, and for occasional use on the Kurdish or Turkoman
frontiers, are 10,000 breech-loading Werndl rifles, for which, how
ever, there is said to be no reserve supply of ammunition, and which
have rusted and deteriorated from long disuse. There are also
20,000 chassepots and 30,000 tabatieres (transformed muzzle-
loaders), which had been captured by the Germans in the Franco-
German war of 1870, and were sold by them to the Shah during
his first visit to Europe for 16s. each. They and their ammunition
are equa y contemptible. The bulk of the latter is manufactured
m eheran, near to which there is a powder factory An East India Company trading post. , while small
arms are fabricated in the arsenal opening on to the Meidan. 1
paid a visit to the Arsenal, where I was courteously received
) two ustrian officers and conducted round the premises, con-
Arsermi a series of workshops opening on to garden
. com ts. The Shah was about to pay his annual visit of
inspection, and accordingly everything was in spick and span
° r ei * eie ai e an iron foundry, the chief products of which
appeared to be copies of florid European statuettes for the decora-
. 011 0 S arc ^ ens an d public places; a percussion-cap factory An East India Company trading post. , bought
m lance and conducted by an Austrian; and shops for the
• • f* 16 Teheran was started by Haji Mirza Aghassi, the Dervish
° ° ammec l Shah, who had all the love of the ancient Athenians for
something new.

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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
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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎425v] (853/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213846.0x00003c> [accessed 5 June 2026]

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