![Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎800r] (1616/1814)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/Mss Eur F111_33_1646.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎800r] (1616/1814)")
Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [800r] (1616/1814)
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.
473
BE VENUE, BESOUKCES, AN4) MANUFACTUBES
to Hamadan. With a few tribes military service counts for revenue ;
but in the majority of cases the revenue is distinct, and the service
is paid for separately.
In Luristan there exist a number of peculiar methods ol re
cruiting the revenue, which, both for intrinsic subtlety, and as
Tribal illustrations of the resourcefulness of Persian finance, are
blackmail worthy of mention. Each district and subsection is
charged annually with a sum of 25-50 krans for a copy of the
Shah’s Diary of his First Journey to Europe. This tax dates from
the period of that journey, viz. 1873, when it was imposed as a
means of simultaneously acquainting the subjects with the majesty
of their sovereign, and the sovereign with the pecuniary xesouices
of his subjects. The tax has never been taken off, neither appetite
being apparently as yet assuaged. Similarly, a favourite horse of
the Shah having died, when he passed through Burujird many
years ago, the district, which was obviously responsible for the
misfortune, was fined in order to provide a substitute 5 which fin^
has been collected ever since by the local Governor. Another in
genious method is to issue a proclamation reserving certain pastures
on the hill-sides for the Government mules and horses, and then
to sell exemptions for the use of their own grounds to the real
proprietors. Yet a further device is first to issue an analogous pro
hibition of shooting on the hills, then to prohibit pasturage on the
ground of disturbance to game, and finally to exact a grazing-tax
as the price of exemption.
The tax on shopkeepers, artisans, and trade is one of the most
capricious and unsystematic. Sometimes it takes the form of a
capitation, or poll-tax; elsewhere I have heard it esti-
Trade-tax ag a 2 o per cent, impost on the profits of trade.
In older accounts of the Persian revenue system, I find that
under this head are included the ground rents of houses, the
rents of caravanserais, baths, shops, mills and factories; but, so
far as I could ascertain, these taxes are rarely exacted, and a most
legitimate and profitable source of income is thus allowed to
'escape.
On the other hand, in towns, the Governors have devised equi
valent sources of profit which do credit to the Persian genius. The
most successful of these, as elsewhere indicated, is the administra
tion of justice. Nothing can be so welcome to a Persian Governor
as a street-row, a blood-feud, a murder, or a quarrel, within his
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
Use and share this item
- Share this item
Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [800r] (1616/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x000011> [accessed 5 June 2026]
https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x000011
Copy and paste the code below into your web page where you would like to embed the image.
<meta charset="utf-8"><a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x000011">Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎800r] (1616/1814)</a> <a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x000011"> <img src="https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/Mss Eur F111_33_1646.jp2/full/!280,240/0/default.jpg" alt="" /> </a>
This record has a IIIF manifest available as follows. If you have a compatible viewer you can drag the icon to load it.https://www.qdl.qa/en/iiif/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/manifestOpen in Universal viewerOpen in Mirador viewerMore options for embedding images
Copyright: How to use this content
- 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