Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [798r] (1612/1814)
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
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469
CHAPTER XXVIII
REVENUEj RESOURCES, AND MANUFACTURES
Chaunting of order and right, and of foresight, warder of nations,
Channting of labour and craft, and of wealth in the port and the garner.
Charles Kingsley, Andromeda.
^ViTH some diffidence I approach in this and the succeeding
chapter the question of the finances and trade of Persia, which,
Persian while giving scattered items of information throughout
figures these volumes, I have not so far discussed with any com
pleteness. My reluctance arises from the unscientific and not
always reliable character of the data upon which I am compelled
to rely. A system that is based upon covert exaction is not
likely to favour the publication of details which would reveal its
own clandestine workings; and, after Russia, where statistics
exist but are systematically suppressed, I know of no country in
which they are so difficult to procure as Persia, where they barely
exist at all. British consular officers and merchants very willingly
furnish information concerning the particular district, markets, or
ports with which they are connected; but any wider calculations
are largely of the nature of estimates; while no two estimates,
even from the most competent of authorities, are found wholly to
agree. Premising, therefore, that positive exactitude cannot be
predicted of any statistics relating to Persia—the genius of whose
people has never been trained to express itself in figures, other
than in those of speech—I will proceed to give, from a collation of
tables derived from a large number of sources, as near an approxi
mation to the truth about Persian revenue and commerce as is
obtainable. 1
1 Works relating to the Persian revenue are few. I may cite the following:—
Sir J. Malcolm (1810), History of Persia, vol. ii. caps. xxi. xxii.; Sir J. Mac
donald Kinneir (1810), Geographical Memoir', J. B. Fraser (1821), Journey into
Khorasan, cap. x. ; General J. F. Blaramberg (1839), ‘ Statistische Uebersicht von
Persien,’ vol. ii. of Journal of Russian Imp. Geogr. Society, 1841; (Sir) J. Sheil,
note, p. 386, to Lady Sheil’s Glimpses of Life and Manners ; Cte. J. de Roche"
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 [798r] (1612/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x00000d> [accessed 6 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
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