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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [820r] (1656/1814)
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 MANUFACTURES
511
ila ) I am
letla fN deal tj
bat,
lll y now fo r tl e(li
In the earljjaa
' W ^en lie wrolt;
ii'on and leadb
lepreciatorjclifflf
Chardin 150 year
V
?r extreme, writes
Persia as to ricks
lalth in coal,™,
rder to set on fool
extremes tliat tie
rill find, theWl,
ered in manjpai'ti
lerior to tlielral
e l
ivas to P
5 attempt
3 ; and Anneal i
abject it se H 1-
piscknM^
l.ii.PP' l71 f
Fietze, ‘^1 c
g^indlet
ennai ^
3abz varl
utilise her mineral wealth, his attention, according to Chardin,
having been drawn to the presence of valuable metals beneath the
soil by the abundant outflow of mineral waters. Chardin spoke
of iron, steel, brass (i.e. copper), and lead, as the minerals most
worked, and specified silver mines at Kervan in the Shah Kuh, four
leagues from Isfahan, near Kerman, and in Mazanderan; iron
mines in Hyrcania (i.e. Mazanderan), South Media (i.e. Kurdistan),
Parthia and Bactria; copper mines at Sari, in Bactria, and near
Kazvin; lead mines near Kerman and Yezd, the latter containing
a large proportion of silver; naphtha springs in Mazanderan and
Chaldeea (i.e. Arabistan) ; and turquoise mines near Nishapur and
Firuzkuh. Of Persian steel he said that it was ‘full of sulphur,
very fine, with a mighty thin and delicate grain, very lasting, but
brittle as glass. 5 But of the Persians as mining prospectors or
engineers, he entertained a very poor opinion, for he declared :
‘ they are too slothful to make any discoveries.’ 1
About the same time or a little earlier (circ. 1650), Tavernier
(who appears to have provided Chardin with some of his material,
the same passages occurring almost verbatim in the two authors)
wrote:—
Of late several copper mines have been found out of which the
Natives make all sorts of Kitchen Household Stuff 1 . Their lead comes
from Kerman, their Iron and Steel from Korasan and Kasbin. Their
steel is very fine with a smooth grain, and grown very hard in the
water, but it is as Brittle as Glass. There are also some mines of Gold
and Silver in Persia, wherein it appears that they have anciently
wrought. Shah Abbas also try’d again, but found his expence to be
more than his profit, whence it is become a Proverb in Persia, ‘ The
silver mines of Kerven, where they spend ten to get nine/ which is
the reason that all the gold and silver of Persia comes out of foreign
countries. 2
We hear little more of the mines , of Persia till the days of
Nadir Shah, when that adventurous monarch, in pursuit of his
designs of universal conquest by land and sea, and particularly of
naval ascendency on the Caspian, established an iron foundry
near Amol in Mazanderan, where he cast cannon-balls and bomb
shells, forged horse-shoes, and contemplated the manufacture of
anchors for his ships. 3 In the first quarter of the present century
1 Travels (edit. Lloyd), vol. ii. cap. vii. 2 Travels, bk. iv. cap. i. p. 143.
3 J. Hanway, Historical Account, etc., vol. i. p. 288. Compare W. R. Holmes
Sketches on the Caspian Shores, p. 16G.
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 [820r] (1656/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x000039> [accessed 21 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