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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [752v] (1521/1814)
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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426
PERSIA
Trade
tomans
10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value.
, as compared with the 12,000 of Lingah, a difference that
illustrates the relative part played by the two places in the import
and export trade with the interior. The revenues of the Bunder
Abbas district are 30,000
tomans
10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value.
.
In the days of the Sefavi kings, when the northern avenues of
access to Persia were barred by hostile nations or robber tribes,
and before the Bushire-Shiraz line of communication had
been opened, Bunder Abbas was the main, almost the
sole port of Iran, and absorbed the bulk of its foreign trade. A
well-worn caravan track led from thence, via Lar and Shiraz, to
Isfahan, and has been described by Tavernier, Chardin, Le Brun,
and other seventeenth or eighteenth century writers. With the
opening of the Bushire route from the Gulf, of the Baghdad route to
the western provinces, and of the Tabriz and Enzeli routes on the
north, the importance of Bunder Abbas has naturally much dimin
ished ; and its trade is now restricted to the eastern portion of the
Shah’s dominions, and in some slight measure to the neighbouring
districts of Central Asia and Afghanistan. Three main caravan
tracks now strike into the interior from this port, single as far as
Kerman, but trifurcating from there (1) to the important manufac
turing centre of Y ezd, and thence to Kashan, and finally Teheran—a
total distance of 920 miles from the Gulf; (2) via Birjand and Turbat-
i-Haideri to Meshed; (3)via Birjand and Yezdun to Herat andKabul.
Upon the first of these routes is conveyed the export and import trade
of Kerman and Y ezd, which I have elsewhere discussed; by the
second are carried the tea and indigo which supply the bazaars of
Meshed, and are re-exported to those of Bokhara; by the third
had travelled the long-haired, loose-trousered desperadoes from
Kabul, whom I encountered on the beach at Bunder Abbas. From
Bunder Abbas in 1889 were exported 1,800 chests of opium for
Hong Kong and China, with an estimated value of 701 per chest,
l,o00 tons of raw cotton valued at 83,000/1, 6,700 tons of dates-
valued at 20,000Z., 16,000 tons of salt valued at 2,700Z., and
1,000 tons of wool valued at 27,000Z. The total value of exports,
including specie, was o44,000Z. There were imported into Bunder
Abbas 9,000 bales of cotton goods, with a value of 156,000Z.,
thiead and twist to the value of 24,000/., 175 tons of indigo valued
at 23,000/., 1,400 tons of crushed sugar with a value of 25,000/.,
600 tons of tea valued at 69,000/. The total imports amounted to
o60,000Z. In an earlier chapter upon Khorasan I have urged the
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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 [752v] (1521/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213849.0x00007a> [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