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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [832r] (1680/1814)
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.
COMMERCE AND TRADE
neglected page of history, and to show of what long standing and
of what high desert are the claims which I advance on behalf of
this country to a predominant interest in the material regeneration
of Iran.
Situated midway between the far east and the west, and
flanked by two navigable seas, Persia has from the earliest times
furrowed their tracks across her deserts and plateaux,
conveying to the Mediterranean the treasures of the Indies, of
Tartary, and even of China. The mariners of at least 4,000 years,
from the Phoenicians down to the present day, have skirted her
southern shores, and have established their most frequented marts
upon her coasts or on her islands. The ruder conditions of northern
life rendered the maritime route by the Caspian less open to use,
but the history of its navigation by merchant vessels, though late
in commencement, does not yield in dramatic episode to its southern
competitor. It has even been said that ‘ ancient history is very
much the history of the struggle for the transit trade of the East
by the Persian G-ulf and the Red Sea ; just as the modern history
of the Old World is almost altogether based on the opening up of
the ocean way to India round the Cape of Good Hope .' 1
The number of peoples, and the diversity of powers, who
have during this long period, coasval with the written history
of the world, controlled or endeavoured to control the
The
merchant overland connection between Asia and Europe, and have
nations
thereby exercised a direct or indirect influence upon
Persia, is extraordinary. Phoenicians, Assyrians, Babylonians,
Greeks, Parthians, Romans, Arabs, Genoese, Florentines, Venetians,
Turks, Armenians, Portuguese, English, Dutch, French, and Rus
sians—the fingers of all have itched for the keys that should unlock
the mysterious treasure-house of the East; merchants of each
nationality have scoured every available track by land and sea,
Jonas Ran way, Historical Account of the British Trade over the Caspian Sea ;
Abbe Kaynal, History of the Settlements and Trade of the East and West Indies,
(translated by J. Justamond), vol. i. ; J. Bruce, Annals of the East India Company,
3 vols.; N. Sains bury, Calendar of State Papers relating to the East Indies, 4 vols-
(1513-1629) ; Sir G. Birdwood, Report on the Miscellaneous Old Records of the
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.
; F. C. Danvers, ‘ The
Persian Gulf
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
Route and Commerce,’ Asiatic
Quarterly Review, April 1888.
1 Sir G. Birdwood, Report on the Records of the
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.
, p. 255.
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 [832r] (1680/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x000051> [accessed 5 April 2025]
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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