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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [820v] (1657/1814)
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.
512
PERSIA
Abbas Mirza, who with a somewhat flighty temper appears to
have combined a genuine interest in his country’s regeneration, at
the same time that he introduced English uniforms, officers, drill
and weapons at Tabriz, encouraged English mining experiments
in Azerbaijan. About the year 1810, an Englishman named
Williamson opened some extensive copper mines in the district of
Sheikh der Aband near Turkomanchai, but was obliged to abandon
them as a failure ; owing, as one
writer
The lowest of the four classes into which East India Company civil servants were divided. A Writer’s duties originally consisted mostly of copying documents and book-keeping.
alleges, to the jealous} of
Abbas Mirza. 1 In 1815, Captain Monteith was commissioned by
the Prince to report on the best locality for iron works, and
decided in favour of Dombre, south of the Aras (Araxes), and
Masarud, saying, 4 In no part of the world did we conceive it
possible that a greater abundance of iron ore should exist than in
the Karadagh range of mountains. For many farsakhs the soil
appears to consist of no other stone.’ Finally, in lb36, Sii H.
Lindsay-Bethune brought out a steam engine and a number of
skilled workmen from England, and sank a very large sum of mone}
in the attempt to work both the copper and iron mines of Karadagh,
apparently without any satisfactory results. 2 Brass cannon weie,
however, at this and earlier periods cast from Persian metal in the
citadel at Tabriz.
In the present reign, as knowledge has become more widely
diffused, and as European methods and appliances have slowly
Modem ex- percolated to Persia, more numerous though deplorably
ploitation imperfect attempts have been made to exploit the mineral
wealth of the country, particularly in coal and copper; while the
natural vanity of the Persians, inflamed by the inquiries or eulo-
giums of passing travellers, has disposed them to think that their
native soil concealed an El Dorado of wealth whose spoils must
ultimately fall into their lap. Most amusing stories are related of
the mingled credulity and enthusiasm of these deluded Orientals.
In 1877 it was reported to the Shah that an old man of Kavend, a
village near Zinjan, had found some gold. Some Court officials
were thereupon sent to Kavend to examine the man, who persisted
1 Lieut. T. Lumsden, Journey from India to London,
2 He had received the concession in the lifetime of the preceding Shah. Copies
of the Firmans: 1. from Fath Ali to Abbas Mirza and Bethune; 2. from Abbas
Mirza to Bethune ; and 3. from Mohammed Mirza to Bethune, are printed in an
Appendix to vol. ii. of G. Fowler’s Three Years in Persia. W. R. Holmes (Sketches,
p. 13) says that Bethune abandoned the works because of the difficulty of obtain
ing repayment from the Persians for the original outlay.
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 [820v] (1657/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x00003a> [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