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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [807v] (1631/1814)
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.
488
PERSIA
remained a little behind as regards public works, at least oar minds
are at ease, and debts do not haunt us.’ And finally came this
burst of patriotic exultation : c What other country in the world
finds itself in such an exceptional position ? No national debt, no
paper money, none of the nation’s riches encroached upon, none of
its revenues mortgaged for the future. The financial stability of
Persia is still virgin and inviolate, in spite of the numerous tempta
tions that have assailed it. May it never be prostituted in time to
come ! ’ I should scarcely have been tempted to quote this glowing
eulogium of the Persian virgin, had I not observed, even in the
pages of European writers, an unaccountable tendency to extol her
charms. I have seen the absence of a national debt in Persia, the
annual excess of revenue over expenditure, and her independence
of foreign loans, paraded as evidences of a sound financial position
and of administrative ability. The expenditure falls below the
receipts, for the simple reason that the most necessary objects of
outlay are scandalously neglected, stinted, or ignored, in order that
the Treasury may receive its annual surplus. There is no national
debt, because the country undertakes no expense, but is content
with scrambling along as best it can from year to year. No
foreign loans have been applied for, partly for the same reason,
partly because the conditions under which alone they could have
been granted would have involved that very mortgage of some of
the country’s resources to the immunity from which the Persian
editor pointed with such innocent pride.
A discussion of the land tax and of land assessment leads me
to say a few words upon the cognate subject of land tenure in
Endt an -^ ers ^ a ? which it is inseparably connected. Owing
anc enure to the wide expanses of sand, salt, and stones, that cover
so much of the territorial superficies of Persia, the extent of soil
under cultivation is said to be less than one fifth of the area of the
whole kingdom. On the other hand, agriculture is believed to
occupy the industry of nearly two-thirds of the entire population.
Landed property in Persia is of four kinds : (1) Crown lands,
known as hhcdisah, or diiva?ii ; (2) Lands held upon feudal tenure;
(3) VaTcfs, or religious endowments; (4) Private property or
. P® Crown lailcls of Persia are very extensive, but are chiefly
m their present ownership, the creation of the civil wars of the
last century. Nadir Shah, and still more Agha Mohammed Khan
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 [807v] (1631/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x000020> [accessed 5 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