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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [801r] (1618/1814)
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.
V
/ 1
REVENUE, RESOURCES, AND MANUFACTURES
475
about 115,000
tomans
10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value.
, although only 91,000 would enter the
Government exchequer—a fair illustration of as corrupt and
wasteful a system as could well be devised. Upon foreign mer
chandise, import and export, an ad valorem duty of 5 per cent,
is charged once for all at the port or station of entry or departure,
in accordance with the commercial treaties concluded with the
majority of foreign powers. As I have shown, however, in m\
chapter upon Khorasan, foreign merchandise is sometimes com
pelled to pay more, in course of transit through the country, if it has
passed into the hands of native traders. Thus British merchandise
hailing from Trebizond which has paid 5 per cent, at labiiz, will
pay 2-A- per cent, more upon entering Meshed, if introduced by a
Persian house of business. Prom the Gulf the accumulation of
dues is even more onerous ; the 5 per cent, levied at Bunder Abbas
upon Anglo-Indian goods being raised to 7J per cent, as they
enter Kerman, and to 9 per cent, if they pass through Yezd in
addition. Native merchants pay a duty considerably less than
Europeans at the port, commonly about 2 per cent.; but they are.
liable to road taxes and to town octrois en route, levied not upon
the value, but on the number of loads, cases, or bales, the cus
tomary charge being 4 Itrans per load at each town. The sum
total, however, of these contributions, except in the case of mer
chandise going far into the interior, when the accumulated tariffs
are likely to exceed 5 per cent., and in a few individual cases, such
as shawls, gold brocades, and so forth, is decidedly less than that
paid by the European trader, and may probably be reckoned at an
average of from 3 to 4 per cent.
It will excite no surprise that a system managed with such a
complete lack of method, and resting in the last resort upon illegal
extortion, should give rise to many abuses. One of these
is noticed by Messrs. Stolze and Andreas. In order to
make up the requisite surplus over and above the farm afnount, it
is to the interest of the farmers to attract as much trade as possible
to their respective districts. With this object they endeavour to
outbid the collectors in adjoining districts and in other ports,
and, by agreeing to pass goods at much less than the official cus
toms tariff, to induce merchants to desert other trade routes in
favour of those passing their way. Thus, they sometimes find it
prudent, even upon European merchandise, to exact no more than
2 per cent. This higgling, so to speak, of the customs market
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 [801r] (1618/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x000013> [accessed 18 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