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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [720v] (1457/1814)
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.
386
PERSIA
not a doubt that behind both looms the powerful personality of the
Grand Vizier, the Amin-es-Sultan. It is this company who have
constructed the buildings already mentioned at new Ahwaz, and
who have also laid a light horse tramway, with a three feet gauge,
between the lower and the upper river. One of their steamers,
the ‘Nasiri,’ plies on the lower river, in correspondence with the
4 Susa ’ on the upper, towing after it two barges; it is shortly to
be replaced by two larger vessels. Simultaneously with these
evidences of activity, schemes have been heard of, also of Persian
origin, for developing by irrigation the fertile plains on either side
of the river, for establishing a pumping station at Kajarieh, and
for extensive plantations of the sugar-cane, cereals, and the date
palm. The value of land is rising at Mohammerah, and there is
abundant reason for believing that the start thus made will be
vigorously pursued.
It is only natural that this enterprise, which, while perfectly
legitimate and even praiseworthy, has been conceived in a spirit
British undeniable hostility to Messrs. Lynch, should to some
fortunes extent have affected the fortunes of the English com
pany. Native merchants are discouraged and even prohibited
from shipping their goods by the English steamers, in spite of the
lower freights offered by the latter. The old difficulty of depots,
wharves, and warehouses remains unsolved, foreigners being for
bidden to erect these necessary appurtenances of successful traffic
themselves; and the Persian Government being slow to fulfil their
part of the original concession. The long-promised regulation of
the customs, though more than once authorised at Teheran, has
never been carried out on the spot, and, in the utter insecurity of
the country north of Dizful, facilities for caravan traffic into the
interior may be said not as yet to exist. Messrs. Lynch have,
with unabated energy, sustained their fortnightly service to Ahwaz,
carrying, for the most part, their own goods, sugar, copper, and
cotton fabrics, and, for return freights, buying wheat, sesame seed,
and other local products. In the year 1890 they also conveyed
2,000 passengers. In the same year the figures of Mohammerah
trade, both English and Persian, were returned as follows in
the Vice-Consular report : Imports 146,140Z., exports 53,100£.
Traffic is still, for the reasons that I have specified, chiefly local in
character; but the interests of the Persians will lead them in time
to insist upon those conditions by which a wider and proportionately
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 [720v] (1457/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213849.0x00003a> [accessed 18 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