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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [802r] (1620/1814)
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.
REVENUE, RESOURCES, AND MANUE ACTE RES
477
from customs is allocated by the Shah to the payment of his
Household expenses.
The next item will be more clearly explained by reference to
the detailed table of the Persian revenue which I shall presently
4 Rents append. It is derived from the proceeds of various
and leases establishments, institutions, or concessions, owned and
leased out by the Government. Such are the post, telegraphs,
mint, mines, &c. In the year 1888—9 the sums thus raised
amounted to a total of 107,000 towiayis. I imagine that in the
future this table will experience considerable augmentation,
according as the Crown’s share in the annual profits of the various
concessions granted by the Shah to European companies (such as
the Imperial Bank, and the Mining Corporation), is paid into the
Exchequer. Should these institutions attain anything like the
success that has commonly been predicted of them, the Royal
treasury should profit to an annually increasing degree, quite apart
from the large sum originally paid in hard cash by the conces
sionaire, which is, as a rule, quietly absorbed by the Shah.
The irregular revenue, or sursat, i.e. the sums arbitrarily and
suddenly levied to meet some temporary need, or forcibly elicited
under the disguise of gifts, is still, to a considerable
II. Irregu- o o
lar revenue, extent, and has been m times past to a much greater, a
source of hardship and oppression to the people. For
although it may appear at first sight that the sums thus
extorted are wrung from rich grandees and corrupt officials, from
whom no one would regret to see the literal pound of flesh exacted,
vet in the last resort they are always ground out from the hapless
peasant, upon whom, as the ultimate grade in the descending scale,
the burden is certain ultimately to fall. Of these fortuitous ex
actions, the most arbitrary and tyrannical is that known as the
sadir^ a species of Persian ship-money, being a levy from a district
or province, or even from the entire kingdom, in order to meet
some special expenditure, such as the cost of warfare, an addition
to the army, the construction of public works or royal palaces (the
latter more often than the former), the reception of ambassadors,
the official progress of governors, and other public officials. If
the Shah, for instance, honours a portion of his dominions with
his august presence, the cost of receiving and entertaining him and
his enormous retinue must be thus defrayed by the loyal inhabitants.
A fixed sum is usually demanded from the local or provincial
1. Public
requisi
tions
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 [802r] (1620/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x000015> [accessed 4 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