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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [833v] (1683/1814)
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.
532
PERSIA
weapons and on her own ground less seriously entertained. In their
desire to get to India and to dip their hands in the fabled gaineis ol
the East, the explorers and merchants under the early Tudors could
compass no better idea than to discover a new route for them
selves which should escape Portuguese competition altogether, and
provide a private maritime highway to the enchanted goal. The
north-western and the north-eastern passages were each thought
likely to supply this alternative channel, and were successh ely
tried. In 1553 Sebastian Cabot obtained from Edward VI. a
preliminary charter for the c Company of the Merchants Adven
turers for the Discovery of Regions, Dominions, Islands, and
Places unknown, a nomenclature that sufficient]) indicated the
haphazard character of the undertaking, and testified to the
admitted dearth of geographical knowledge. In the same year
Sir Hugh Willoughby, starting with two ships on the north
eastern quest which was to end in the recovery of this new Golden
Fleece, was frozen to death off the coast of Lapland. A third
vessel, however, commanded by Stephen Burrough, and piloted by
Richard Chancellor, sailed into the White Sea, and discovered
Archangel. This accidental and unforeseen event was fraught with
momentous consequences. Chancellor, travelling inland to the
court of the Grand Duke of Moscovy, the famous Ivan Yassilievitch
the Terrible, was favourably received by him, and laid the founda
tions of the British ‘Russian or Moscovy Company 7 (whose
chequered career I shall briefly relate), for the conduct of the
overland trade through Russia with the lands lying to the east and
south of the Caspian. In 1557, a formal charter of incorporation
having been granted to the company by Philip and Mary in 1555,
Master Anthony Jenkinson, in company with Richard and Robert
Johnson, were despatched by the directors to explore and to open
the projected tlade routes with Central Asia. They journeyed via
Moscow to Astrakhan; they flew for the first time the British flag
(the red cross of St. George) upon the Caspian; they reached and
returned safely from Bokhara, the first Englishmen, so far as my
knowledge extends, that ever set foot in the Tartar capital; and
they furnished the desired incentive for a more extended venture.
It was now contemplated by the company in include Persia
within the sphere of its operations, for a twofold object. In the
first place, the silk-producing provinces of that country, Shirwan,
Gilan, and Mazanderan, lay in the north and in immediate proximity
§
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 [833v] (1683/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x000054> [accessed 2 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