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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [819v] (1655/1814)
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.
border, give the best wool. Sebzewar is the local centre of this
trade, which is in the hands of Armenians, and which amounts
to an annual export of 10,000 to 12,000 bales of 190 lbs. each. 1 A
good deal of this wool now comes, via Russia, to England. It is
very thick and long, but as exported is coarse and uncleaned. The
best goats’ hair is that produced by a species of Angora, in the neigh
bourhood of Birjand. It is used for the manufacture of shawls, and
is also exported, via the Gulf and Bombay, to England. The total
annual wool-crop of Persia was given to me as 1,750,000 Tabriz
mans or batmans, i.e. 5,078 tons.
In passing to the mineral resources of Persia, I am approaching
a subject upon which has hitherto, been expended a good deal both
Mineral °f loose statement and of vague conjecture, but an
resources authoritative opinion as to which is only now for the first
time coming within the range of possibility. 2 In the early years
of the century Malcolm flew to one extreme when he wrote :
‘ Persia does not abound in valuable minerals ; iron and lead how
ever, are found in many parts ’; a verdict the depreciatory charac
ter of which is falsified even by the pages of Chardin 150 years
before. Half a century later, Polak, at the other extreme, writes:
‘ Scarcely any country of the earth can vie with Persia as to riches
in metals, especially copper. Its unbounded wealth in coal, iron,
and copper deposits only awaits exploration in order to set on foot
a mighty industry.’ It is between these two extremes that the
historian of to-day will be disposed to seek, and will find, the truth.
Traces of mining operations have been discovered in many parts
of Persia, that can only be referred to a period anterior to the Arab
History conquest, even if we hesitate to what preceding epoch to
assign them. In post-mediaeval times, it was to Shah
Abbas the Great that Persia owed the first serious attempt to
1 Vide Miscellaneous Series of F. O. Reports, No. 114, 1888; and Annual
Series, No. 96, 1892.
2 Tlie bibliography of Persian mineralogy is as small as the subject itself is
large. I can only mention: G. Melgunoff, Das sudliche Ufer des Kaspisehen Meeres,
1868; J. E. Polak (1865), Persien, das Land und seine Bcnwliner, vol. ii. pp. 174-8;
A. Herbert, Commercial Reports of the F. O., No. 18, 1886; Dr. E.Tietze, 4 On the
Soil and Geological Constitution of Persia,’ Mittheil. der It. und It. Geograph.
Gesellschaft in Wien, 1886, pp. 515-23, 561-75 ; Dr. E. Tietze, ‘ Mineralreichthumer
Persiens,’ Year Booh of Imp. Geological Institute, Vienna, 1889; A. H. Schindler,
<Neue Angaben iiber d. Mineralreichthiimer Persiens,’ Year Booh, Vienna 1881 •
‘Aus d. Nordwestlichen Persien,’ ibid, 1882; ‘Die Gegend zwischen Sabzvar und
Mesched,’ ibid, 1886.
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 [819v] (1655/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x000038> [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