![Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎733v] (1483/1814)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/Mss Eur F111_33_1499.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎733v] (1483/1814)")
Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [733v] (1483/1814)
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.
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^JLZZJL -wr ^rt&t Y< f h
U N s/IaX^^tO
PEESIA
a half miles broad by three miles long. Its inhabitants are a few
miserable Arabs, who catch fish and supply pilots for the Shat-el-
k Arab. This tiny island once enjoyed a short-lived pro-
an< ^ sperity under the vigorous rule of the Dutch, who, retiring
from Busrah because of a difference with the Turks in 1748, trans
ferred their trading emporium to this spot, raised its population in
a few years from a few hundreds to 12,000, and then as suddenly
collapsed, being forcibly expelled by Arab pirates, under the famous
Mir Mohannah, Sheikh of Bunder Rig, in 1765. The leading
spirit of this enterprise had been one Baron Kniphausen, of whom
an old chronicler said that, c Beneath the character of a merchant
he concealed the statesman and man of genius ’; and the with
drawal of his inspiration preluded the national disaster. 1 Even in
the time of its fame Kharak was always dependent upon the neigh
bouring islet of Kharaku (i.e. little Kharak) Khargu, or Corgo,
and upon the mainland for its supplies; and it is related by one
authority that the stratagem by which it fell was the employment
by the invading corsairs of a ship containing poultry, whose cackling
aroused no alarm in the garrison. In the fugitive appearances
made by France upon the arena of Persian politics, Kharak has
twice passed nominally into her hands. Kerim Khan Zend ceded
it to the French by a treaty negotiated by M. Pyrault at Busrah,
and signed at Paris ; but the suppression of the French East India
Company followed, and the treaty lapsed. It was again surrendered,
or was about to be surrendered, to France during the short burst of
Napoleonic ascendency in 1807—8, 2 but with the expulsion of the
French Embassy from Persia in 1809, this second cession shared
the fate of its predecessor. Sir John Malcolm was then instructed
to occupy the island in defence of British interests in the Gulf;
1 The story of the brief Dutch occupation of Kharak is told in E. Ives’ Voyage
from England to India, etc., pp. 207-226, the author having visited Kharak in 1758,
while Kniphausen was still in command; by C. Niebuhr, Voyage en Aralrie, vol. ii
pp. 149-61, 164—6, and Descrigrtion de VArable (Heron’s trans. vol. ii. cap. vii.),
the
writer
The lowest of the four classes into which East India Company civil servants were divided. A Writer’s duties originally consisted mostly of copying documents and book-keeping.
having visited Kharak in 1765, the very year that it fell; and by J.
Price, Free Merchants 1 Letters, p. 172. Ives draws a very flattering picture of
the energy and activity of Kniphausen, who was a Prussian, not a Dutch, by
birth. Niebuhr says that he presided over the Dutch
factory
An East India Company trading post.
for five years, and
was succeeded by Messrs. Van der Hulst, Buschmann, and Van Houting. It was
under the latter’s rule that Mohannah, the pirate, being foolishly allowed to enter
the fort with an armed retinue, seized the place and expelled the Hollanders.
2 Gf. A. Olivier, Voyage dans VEmpire Othoman, etc., vol. v. p. 157.
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 [733v] (1483/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213849.0x000054> [accessed 5 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