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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎721v] (1459/1814)

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. .

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388
PERSIA
f
CHAPTER XXVI
THE NAVY
The Spanish fleet thou can’st not see, because
It is not yet in sight.
R. B. Sheridan, The Critic, act. ii. sc. ii.
I might almost borrow a hint for the contents of this chapter from
the famous chapter on Snakes in Iceland, which said merely
^ 4 There are no snakes in Iceland.’ It is scarcely less
dread of difficult to discover the traces or existence of a Persian
Navy. Brave and victorious as the Persians have shown
themselves at different epochs on land, no one has ever ventured
so far to belie the national character as to insinuate that they have
betrayed the smallest proficiency at sea. It would be difficult, and
perhaps impossible, in the history of the world to find a country
possessing two considerable seaboards, and admirably situated for
trade, which has so absolutely ignored its advantages in both re
spects, and which has never in modern times either produced a
navigator, or manned a merchant fleet, or fought a naval battle.
Cicero wrote in one of his letters to Atticus, 4 [Pompeii] omne
consilium Themistocleum est; existimat enim, qui mare teneat, eum
necesse esse rerum potiri.’ 1 But no Persian monarch since the days
of Xerxes 2 has shared the opinion of Themistocles or of Pompey,
unless we except the Sassanian Shapur II. (310-379 a.d.), who is
said to have gained the appellation Zhulaktaf or 4 Lord of the
Shoulders,’ from having dislocated the shoulders of all his captives, 3
in a campaign against the Arab pirates of his maritime border, and
1 JEp. ad Attic., x. 8.
2 The fleets of Mardonius and Xerxes were manned, not by Persians, but bv
sailors from the tributary provinces of the empire. In none of the Achsemenian
sculptures is there any trace of naval affairs.
3 This is the account of Masudi. Mirkhond says he strung his prisoners to
gether by piercing a hole through their shoulders. Gibbon erroneously spells the
title Dhulaknaf or Protector of the Nation.
i
&

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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
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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎721v] (1459/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213849.0x00003c> [accessed 3 March 2025]

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