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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [846r] (1708/1814)
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
553
Busliire to an annual importation of 600 bales of cotton goods alone.
When Sir John Malcolm first appeared in 1800 at the Court of
Fath Ali Shah, he negotiated with the ministers of that monarch a
commercial as well as a political treaty, by which most of the
privileges of the old factories were restored, and several additional
ones granted. English and Indian traders were to be permitted
to settle, free from taxes, in any Persian seaport, and to be pro
tected in the exercise of their commerce. Englishmen were also
to be at liberty to build and sell houses in any Persian port or city.
English iron, lead, steel, and broadcloth were to be admitted into
Persia free of duty, while existing duties on other goods were not
to be increased. Unfortunately, this treaty was never ratified, and,
along with its political contemporary, found its validity 7 disputed.
In f828, however, Russia, by the treaty of Turkomanchai, which
fixed an ad valorem duty of 5 per cent, upon all Russian exports
and imports, set an example which has, in turn, been followed b;y
every European nation trading with Persia. But it was not till
1841 that the treaty was negotiated by Sir John McNeill that
placed Great Britain upon the most-favoured-nation footing, and
provided for the establishment of commercial agencies in the two
countries. Meanwhile, in 1810, the commercial residencies of
Bushire and Muscat, and of Baghdad and Busrah, had respectively
been amalgamated, and in 1812 the commercial
residency
An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India.
at Busline
was abolished and a
political agent
A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency.
left in its place. In 1822 a
general revision took place of the various stations in the Persian
Gulf. Factors and brokers were henceforward denominated resi
dents and
native agents
Non-British agents affiliated with the British Government.
, and the entire establishment was rendered
a political charge. This change was an inevitable consequence of
the events that had brought Persia within the range of European
politics, and had transferred the relations between this country and
her from the ledgers of merchants to the despatches of statesmen.
Since Malcolm first landed on her shores the situation has been
revolutionised, and whereas the Foreign Office at Whitehall scarcely
knew at the beginning of the century where or what Persia might
be, a regiment of clerks and secretaries now ticket and file the
voluminous correspondence that flows in from Teheran. In 187-
the superintendence of the
Persian Gulf
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
littoral was transferred
from the Bombay Government to the Government of India, and to
this day the British Residents at Bushire and Baghdad and the
political or consular agents at Muscat and Busrah are selected and
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 [846r] (1708/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x00006d> [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