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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [719r] (1454/1814)
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.
THE KAKUiY RIVER
383
letter to his chief, saying that my vengeance was satisfied, and
requesting that no further punishment should be imposed. I had
no wish to inflict an injury upon the poor wretch, who had already
suffered so serious a fright that he would be most unlikely to repeat
the same tactics when the next English visitor should ascend the
river ; so I wrote the desired epistle, and we parted good friends.
But whenever I hear mentioned the name of the Karun river, or
of the rapids of Ahwaz, amid the din and whirl of the waters
humming over the ledges there intrudes upon my memory the
vision of that inimitable Mirza, seated in his mat-hut between the
two melancholy fratricides, with the silent seyids, the imperilled
sheikh, and the stalwart robber-son looking chilly and imperturb
ably on.
I will not here recapitulate the facts set forth at sufficient
length in my communication to the ‘ Times,’ and of which the
Opposition the various Persian officials whom I en-
to British countered was only a casual illustration, that led me to
navigation -i • i . . 7
believe that at that time a determined attempt was
being made upon the spot to destroy, by means of a general
c boycott,’ the value of the Karun Concession. The reasons for
such a policy were not hard to seek. The Arab sheikhs, who with
their tribes inhabit the banks of the river and have for long enjoyed
a practical independence of the central authority, though exceedingly
well-disposed to the English and hostile to the Persians, whom
they detest, disliked the intrusion of an element that brought
down upon them the attention, dictation, and exactions of the
Government, and that located Persian officials at Ahwaz and
Mohammerah. The local traders resented competition with the
hallowed monopoly of their caravans. The Persian officials, alive
to the great possibilities of the trade, were furious at seeing it
slip through their fingers; and, though they had never hitherto
lifted a little finger to develop the route themselves, were disgusted
that the task should be undertaken by those from whom they
could expect to make no mudakhil and to receive no bribes. Above
all, some sort of concession for the navigation of the upper river
appeared to have been given to the Governor of Bushire and to a
wealthy merchant of the same place ; and there was ground for
believing that the Nizam’s interests were preoccupied in the same
direction, and that he was secretly aiming at retaining the monopoly
of the upper river in Persian hands.
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 [719r] (1454/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213849.0x000037> [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