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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [850v] (1717/1814)
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.
562
PERSIA
There is a further, though less strictly scientific, means of
estimating the total value of Persian trade, viz., from the Custom
house returns. In the previous chapter I have explained
w the system on which the customs are collected, and have
shown that, whilst on European traders the duty levied,
returns f or i m p 0 rts and exports, is five per cent, ad valorem, on
Persian traders it varies between three and eight per cent., or even
more. I have also shown that, under the farming system which is
universal in Persia, the farmer, besides paying in the stipulated sum
to the governor or the Shah, makes a handsome profit foi himself,
which sum may be estimated as at least twenty per cent, in excess
of the official return. Taking four per cent, ad valorem, therefore,
as the mean of customs paid by all merchants, foreign and native,
and adding twenty per cent, to the value of the farm-money actually
paid, we arrive at the following rough estimate of the total value
of Persian trade for the nine years from 1880 to 1889.
Year
Government Eeceipts
Rate of
Exchange
Farm Money +
20 per cent. ^
Estimated value
of Trade
•
Tomans
10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value.
£
Krans— £1
£
£
1880-81
708,629
257,700
27*
309,240
7,731,000
1881-82
785,290
281,600
27-J
337,920
8,448,000
1882-83
' 807,770
281,400
28#
337,680
8,442,000
1883-84
814,000
280,700
29
336,840
8,421,000
1884-85
806,000
264,262
30*
317,114
7,928,000
1885-86
• 838,000
250,150
33^
,300,180
7.504.000
1886-87.
. 850.000
253,730
33y
304,476
7,612,000
1887-88
820,000
241,176
34
289,411
7,235,000.
1888-89
800,000
235,294
34
282,352
7,057,000
It will be observed that the last-named total exceeds by no less
than 700,000?., that derived from the elaborate table before quoted,
but which I have already stated that I regard as an under-estimate.
My own impression, derived from a calculation of the volume of
trade at the several ports or points of entry—a subject to which
I shall next turn—-is that the total commerce of Persia at the
present time may be set down as from 7,000,000?. to 7,500,000?.
—a rough estimate that was also given to me by two independent
authorities—of which the imports constitute about two-thirds, and
the exports the remainder. 1
1 Elisee Eeclus gives the total volume of trade as £6,000,000. Whitaker’s
Almanack gives : exports, £2,260,000; imports, £3,850,000 ; total £6,110,000. The
Almanacde Gotha gives : exports, £3,120,000 : imports, £5,280,000 ; total £8,400,000.
Mr. Herbert, Secretary of Legation at Teheran, in a F. O. Report of 1886 (Com-
i
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 [850v] (1717/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x000076> [accessed 12 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