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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [439v] (881/1814)
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.
626
PERSIA
Proceeding in an easterly direction^ the next railway pro
posals that we find have been mooted are those for a line along the
2 . Baku- western coast of the Caspian from Baku, via Lenkoran
Besht 0ran " ^ stara ? an d Resht, or from Resht alone, to the capital •
Teheran and further east from Meshed-i-Ser to the capital. In
connection with the first of these schemes, it is to be noted that the
Russians, in laying the Tiflis-Baku line, constructed a particularly
3 m h d ^ ne sta ^ on Adji-Kahul, seventy miles west of Baku
i-Ser- with an admitted view to such an extension. Either of
these schemes would be executed solely in the interests of
Russia; neither could be expected to pay. 1 Between either Caspian
port and Teheran intervenes the main chain of the Elburz moun
tains, which, except in a country giving promise of immense traffic
might anywhere be considered as a formidable barrier to railroad
aggression. Concessions for the former of these railroads i.e.
Resht-Teheran—have frequently been granted, but very charily
taken up. The Russians would do far better to insist upon the
improvement of the road from Resht to Kazvin, and upon the
removal of the obstacles to disembarkation and the reverse that at
present exist at Enzeli. Considering that this is their main line of
entry into Persia, and is only 200 miles in length from the Caspian
to the capital, it can only be regarded as typical of Russian supine
ness in such matters that both the roadstead at Enzeli and the road
from Resht aie left in a condition so unpropitious to the free ingress
and egress of merchandise.
Before the Russian occupation of Transcaspia, a line of railway
i mining fiom Gez, in the south-east corner of the Caspian, to Astra-
4. Gurgan bad, and thence up the Gurgan Valley on to the plateau
alEy of Bujnurd and Kuchan, found some favour with Russian
strategists as an easy mode of advance upon Meshed or Herat, to
an army opeiating against either of which places it would bring
up supplies both from Khorasan and Mazanderan, and, also, by
means of the Caspian, from Russia itself. Such a line would have
been entirely destitute of any commercial character or value, and
would have been designed with the sole purpose of abetting Rus
sian aggression. It need not now be discussed, seeing that all
necessity foi its construction has been obviated by the later con
quests of Russia and the Transcaspian Railway of General Annen-
Surveys for a line from Adji-Kabul to Astara are reported to have been
ordered in December 1891.
i, 4. f» h '
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1 railway ft-° m
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'■ j*iil»S- 11 “
there said that, .
, across the almos
^theEas^^tl
IttweeaAshkabad and
Ihile I was at Mesnei
iject of railway conned
Transcaspia and
has believed to be stror
for a Russian branch line
Caspian Railway toMeshei
pass m the frontier outp(
constitute a first instalmei
bat, thereby killing tw<
Afghan frontier—witl
i® (1891) it has been
fwsing strongly for the
Vs render it likely tb
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 [439v] (881/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213846.0x000058> [accessed 12 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