Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [678v] (1373/1814)
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
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326
PERSIA
for some time kept as a hostage by the Persian Government, whose
policy in these parts has always been to play off one member of a
family against another. He has since been released, and now
lives higher up on the Shat-el-Arab, in receipt of a pension of 1,200
tomans
10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value.
from the Persian Government, but is on the worst of terms
with Sheikh Mizal. A younger brother resides with the latter,
none of whose fifteen wives has succeeded in bearing him any
children. The sheikh is a man of over fifty years of age, of fine
stature and dignified appearance, and is reported to be very rich,
having made a large fortune by the horse trade with Bombay.
For the present the relations between Sheikh Mizal and the
Persian Government are ostensibly smooth and harmonious; but
Persian tbe Arab chief has long been apprehensive of the future,
policy pi or y ears p as £ ] ie ] iag S een the policy of Teheran directed
towards the gradual suppression of all semi-dependent authority
in non-Persian hands, and the centralisation of executive power.
One after another the poppy-heads, to quote the old Homan fable,
have been smitten off; and Arab sheikhs and Lur chieftains alike
have vanished into compulsory retirement, or more frequently into
the silent prisons of Teheran. For the pursuance of these tactics
in south-west Persia, the opening of the Karun River to foreign
trade, and the consequent necessity for new Custom-house officers
and Foreign Office representatives, have supplied the Central
Government with a welcome excuse ; and it was with no slight
alarm that Sheikh Mizal saw the first steamer of Messrs. Lynch
ascend the Karun. Naturally, and by instinct a friend of the
English, with whom, and particularly with the late Mr. Robertson,
he has for long been upon intimate terms, he yet feels himself
compelled to walk circumspectly. Accordingly, he regards every
thing and everybody with suspicion. He declines to go on board
any vessel or steamer for fear that there may be a plot to deport
him. In a creek immediately alongside of his house is moored his
own paddle-steamer, the c Karun , 5 ready at any moment to carry
him into a safe retreat; and his deputy at Mohammerah was much
distiessed when I announced my intention of inspecting the new
buildings at the corner, and gave private instructions that I should
be deceived as to their character. More lately he has seen the
wisdom of making friends with the Mammon of unrighteousness ;
and having invested both his interest and his wealth in the native
commeicial speculation for the development of the Karun trade
*
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 [678v] (1373/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213848.0x0000ae> [accessed 2 April 2025]
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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