![Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎437r] (876/1814)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/Mss Eur F111_33_0888.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎437r] (876/1814)")
Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [437r] (876/1814)
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.
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Persian hostility be dormant or appeased, there is not that secu
rity which, in the absence of a Government guarantee, will tempt
capitalists or even speculators to embark upon so dubious a
venture. They have no surety that a change of sovereign, a
political convulsion, or a foreign war might not be the signal for
confiscation. How many of the abortive schemes of the past have
been ruined because of the refusal of the Persian Government to
grant a fixed guarantee, these pages will have made clear. Fur
thermore, the long list of unsuccessful appeals to foreign capital
will have shown that, in the eyes of Europe, railways along the
majority of the lines projected are not likely to be of a commer
cially profitable nature.
This, it must be said, arises not so much from a disbelief in
the remunerative capacity of the country itself through which
the line might be laid, as from the enormous cost of
native 1 ° plant and rolling stock, all of which, at any rate in so far
material ag p. cons i s ted of metal, would have to be imported into
the country (if from the north, through the gauntlet of the
Russian Custom-house), and when required in the interior would
have to be conveyed by mule or camel back, unless, indeed, the
American plan were adopted of making the railway carry forward
its own material as it advanced from the coast. I confess I have
been amazed at reading in a recent publication by a
writer
The lowest of the four classes into which East India Company civil servants were divided. A Writer’s duties originally consisted mostly of copying documents and book-keeping.
signing
himself ‘ Persicus ’ and claiming an eighteen years’ acquaintance
with the country, the following sentence :—
There are other circumstances which would facilitate the construction
of railways in Iran, namely, the existence of any quantity of good
stone for metalling up the permanent way, of wood for sleepers, and of
metals, the mines of which, when opened up, will suffice for the require
ments of the country without having recourse to importation}
The calm assertion of the concluding lines, which I have
italicised, should render the unique knowledge of the author of
exceptional value to the Alining Corporation, now engaged in
exploiting the mineral resources of Persia. It is, however, to such
rash misstatements that much of the foreign ignorance and con
fusion about the country are due. In this particular case Persia
i Vide an article on ‘ Roads and Railways in Persia,’ in the Asiatic Quarterly
Review for January 1891, the second of a series on the Regenera,ion o ersia.
Their too sanguine author makes the mistake of habitually confusing t ie u me
with the present tense.
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 [437r] (876/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213846.0x000053> [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