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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [844r] (1704/1814)
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
549
leagues and bonds of friendship with our princes ; ’ although the
Persians appear presently to have become disgusted at receiving
envoys of such small consideration from so great a monarch.
'The Shah, however, granted them a
firman
A Persian word meaning a royal order or decree issued by a sovereign, used notably in the Ottoman Empire (sometimes written ‘phirmaund’).
, conceding immunity
from tolls and customs for the space of three years, and the same
trading rights as other foreign nations, a formal treaty of commerce
being promised as soon as sufficiently valuable presents were
forthcoming from the French king or company. There were
constant quarrels at Isfahan between the representatives of the two
latter powers, and De Lalain died in 1666. The Board of the
French East India Company decided in 1668 not to open trade
with Persia; but a M. Gueston, a new director, having come out
from India to renew the attempt and having died at Shiraz in 1673,
the captain of the vessel that had brought him, one Berrier, and
his clerk De Joncheres, decided that it would be very good fun to
pose as ambassadors themselves. They procured a patent from the
king giving them free right of trade throughout Persia, but do
not appear to have secured any exceptional privileges, the Shah s
minister inviting a fresh deputation from the Company before he
made any further concessions. In 1708, M. Michel, sent out by
Bouis XIV., concluded a treaty with Shah Sultan Husein ; and in
1715 Le Grand Monarque was humbugged into signing another at
Versailles by a Persian adventurer, named Mohammed Reza Bey.
The French establishment existed in Isfahan till the Afghan inva
sion in 1722, when they were compelled to retire; and they also
possessed a
factory
An East India Company trading post.
at Bunder Abbas.
About the same time, viz., in 1664, there appeared at Isfahan
an embassy from the Grand Duke of Moscovy consisting of two
The envoys and 800 followers. They were received with
Russians great distinction, and were lodged in a royal palace,
which they so defiled wdth their filthy habits that Shah Abbas II*
called them the Uzbegs of the Franks, intimating, says Chardin,
c that as among the Mohammedans there is no nature so nasty, so
meanly educated, nor so clownish as the V usbecs, so among the
Europeans there was not any that equalled the Muscovites in those
foul qualities.’ It was presently discovered that the object of the
embassy was commerce, and that the guise of ambassadors had
assumed in order to evade the payment of duties on the
merchandise which they had brought with them into the country.
Indignant at this double-handed dealing, the Shah dismissed them
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 [844r] (1704/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x000069> [accessed 13 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