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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎780r] (1576/1814)

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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7C
‘^^^ijto^®feSlAN / GULF «.
^ /^.o -rZXluJ* A-^-u ^ A*- ru
" ^independent maritime chieftains, pledged to observe the maritime
peace of the Gulf, and possessing a claim upon our support i e
does so, or upon our retribution if he does not—a view o is
status which rests upon a definite agreement not to commit any
breach of the maritime peace, which was signed by his pre
decessor, independently of the six Trucial Chiefs, m • n
1871 however, thinking to escape this obligation, and to carry
out with greater ease his projects for personal aggrandisement and
conquest towards the south, Sheikh Jasim placed himself under
Turkish protection and adopted the Turkish flag. The Ottoman
Government, only too anxious, as I shall presently show, to extend
its authority in these regions, gladly threw the segis of its protec
tion over “the Sheikh, appointed him Kaimakam or Deputy ^
Governor of El Katr (to which district they have not the ghost ^ ft..
of a claim), and placed a Turkish guard of 250 regulars, a coal- /ft e V
depot, and a steam launch at El Bidaa, the principal port of the
Katr coast. The claims of the Porte to. sovereignty over the
El Katr cape are not admitted by the British Government, and
are the cause not merely of diplomatic controversy,, but of positive
anarchy in the districts concerned. For the Turkish officials are
wholly indiflerent to the suppression of piracy, or the observation
of the maritime peace; and from the harbours and creeks of the
coast alleged to be under their control, feluccas of desperate
robbers, mostly of the Beni Hajir tribe, dart out upon the native
craft plying to and from Bahrein; and after they have secured
their spoil, retire again to the safe asylum of a Tuikish
anchorage.
Armati pelagum exercent, semperque recentes
Convectare juvat prseclas et vivere rapto.
Sheikh Jasim himself is quite ready to coquet with any power
that will forward his ambitions aims. He has for long been
engaged in a savage blood-feud with the adjoining tribe of Abu
Dhabi, and his son having been killed in one of the encounters in
May 1888, he appealed for aid to the Turks, first at El Hasa, next
at Busrah, and finally at Constantinople; and when he met with
no response from his patrons, ended by invoking ths assistance of
Ibn Rashid, the powerful chief of Nejd ; an alliance for which, had
it been granted, he would no doubt have had to pay the price of a
^ ^^Attchi^ij Vol. vii. No. xxix. .
ir J. c^. 7fTZ-. — A <rC/7. w
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CLO /tti
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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
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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎780r] (1576/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213849.0x0000b1> [accessed 2 April 2025]

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