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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [828v] (1673/1814)
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.
"3TST
522 PERSIA
many other parts of Persia where salt exists, and is quairied in
great abundance, far exceeding the needs of the country itself.
Among these may be mentioned Masreh, Aiwan-i-Kaif, Deh
Nemek, Lasgird, Kafir Kaleh near Nishapur, 1 Ivamarij, and two
salt lakes between Kerman and Bunder Abbas.
Among the minerals which I have not yet mentioned, but
which are found scattered through different parts of the countiy,
Remaining ar e large supplies of gypsum, nitrates of soda and potash,
minerals alum (principally extracted from a number of mines neai
Kazvin, and also at Tash), sulphur, the chief mines of which
at Khamir, on the mainland opposite the island of Kishm, used to
be farmed by the Sultan of Muscat, but are now in Persian hands,
saltpetre near Zinjan and Kum, zinc near Yezd, and tin (it is said)
between Astrabad and Shahrud.
It is as yet too early in the day to venture upon any confident
prediction as to the future of mining operations in Persia. The
information which I have given, and which a later
mining in edition, if ever demanded, may enable me very greatly
Persia am pEfy 5 w iR a t least have shown that the arena of
activity is various, well-stocked and large. I entertain no doubt
that time will reveal other and equally remarkable sources of
mineral wealth at present unknown or untested. The intrinsic
value of the Persian minerals cannot be disputed. Their worth
as articles of commerce is almost wholly dependent upon the
locality in which they are situated, and upon the cost of mule or
camel transport either to the coast or to the nearest town market.
These difficulties, and others, arising from the severity of the Per
sian climate, the enormous cost of conveyance of machinery, and
the humours of Persian officialdom, constitute an array of obstacles
which only those who have practical experience can credit. If
coal and copper can be produced in large quantities so as both
to meet and to augment the native demand, and if the more
valuable minerals of which mention has been made can be con
veyed to a port at a cost which will render export either to
Europe or to other Asiatic countries profitable, I believe that the
future may be prosperous.
Prom the natural I pass to the manufactured products of Persia,
which may be divided into two separate but not mutually exclusive
1 The salt mines of Kafir Kaleh (i.e. Hill of the Infidel) produce 680 tons a
year, and supply the needs of Khorasan and Meshed.
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 [828v] (1673/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x00004a> [accessed 4 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