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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [826r] (1668/1814)
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.
517
REVENUE, RESOURCES, AND MANUFACTURES
certain to follow upon reduction in price, may soon be antici-
pated.
The Governor-General of Khorasan boasted to me oi the
mineral wealth of his province ; and the Khorasanis themselves say
3 Khora- that it contains, in addition to the turquoise mines of
^ an Nishapur, twelve copper, seven lead, four coal, two salt,
and even a gold mine, of which only three copper, one coal, and
one salt mine have been worked, and that in a very peilunctoi)
fashion. The well-known copper mines of Gurkhani, between
Maomai and Abbasabad, on the high road between Shahrud and
Meshed, which Fraser speaks of as having been worked up to
Nadir Shah’s day, but abandoned because of Turkoman depreda
tions, are now full of water. A copper mine was seen, five miles
from’ Meshed, by Colonel Val. Baker, who found the workings
ancient and extensive, but not very rich. Good coal is said to be
procured from Firizi and Ab-i-Kat, eight miles south of Ohinaran,
Some lead mines at Damghan and Sebzewar are leased to private
individuals, and copper, coal, and iron are also found in the neigh
bourhood of the former place. Next to Gurkhani, the principal
copper mines of Khorasan, many of them containing the remains of
ancient working, but now under water, may be classified as follows ;
1. Chund, Homai, and Nehru in the hills south of Sebzewar;
2. Batau and Dahaneh Siah further to the south, the latter being
the most productive copper-mine in Persia ; o. several mines in
the reighbourhood of Turshiz; 4. ditto in the Turbat-i-Haideri
district; 5. Paghaleh, etc., in the Jagatai hills north of Sebzewar ;
6. the Biarjumand district on the caravan route between Shahrud
and Turshiz. One or other of these localities is likely to be taken
in hand by the Mining Corporation. It must be remembered that
though Polak declared that every district in Persia had its own
copper mines, and that though there is not a village in the country
where copper vessels and utensils are not a sivie qua non of
domestic existence, even among the peasants, yet the local manu
facture of the metal is insignificant in the extreme, the output of
the Persian mines now worked hardly exceeding o,00Cfi, yearly
in value, and almost the whole amount consumed in Persia being
imported in sheets, principally by the Gulf from England. 1 Con
sequently there is a most favourable opening for an industry
1 Copper sheets, rolled and finished, cost between 90Z. and 100Z. per ton, in the
Persian market. Chili bars cost 60Z. per ton. *
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 [826r] (1668/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x000045> [accessed 21 July 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