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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [851v] (1719/1814)
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.
564 PERSIA
who despatched a vessel laden with English goods for Persia from
Constantinople to that port. About the same time an nig ish
• 2 . Tiflis- consul was first appointed by Lord Aberdeen at Trebizond.
Tabriz line j n 1830 only one T^iiglish vessel entered the haibour
of Trebizond out of a total of twenty-six European (other than
Turkish) vessels; in 1832, two out of forty-two. 1 Mr. Stocqueler,
travelling this way in the latter year, pointed out the future trade
importance of Trebizond, suggested the institution of an English
consul at Tabriz and of a commercial agent at Erzerum [we now
have consuls at both], and said of the newly-founded trade :
During the past two years a little has been carried on by two or
three adventurous persons, who report that British manufactures are
purchased with avidity. No less than 750,000^. worth of such goods
have found their way through Erzerum to Persia. 2
Encouraged by Abbas Mirza, a Mr. Burgess soon after opened
trade via Trebizond with Tabriz and Teheran; and in 1836 Colonel
Stuart reported that: 4 Such is the rage for English goods that three
princes went by night, not long ago, to make purchases at Mir.
Burgess’ warehouse [in the capital], though expressly forbidden §
by the King.’ 3 The same
writer
The lowest of the four classes into which East India Company civil servants were divided. A Writer’s duties originally consisted mostly of copying documents and book-keeping.
observed :—
Of the exports, the Russians export nearly two-thirds more than the
English. Our merchants, however, though unprotected by a treaty,
daily acquire a superiority in the market. Their yearly exports from
England by Trebizond, the greater part of which are destined for
Persia, amount to 900,000^., being about seven-eighths of the whole
amount of goods brought into the county. 4
The Trebizond-Tabriz route continued to flourish and to be
patronised by British trade until the Russians opened the Trans-
Caucasian railway from Poti, and, for prudential reasons, continued
to maintain free trade in the Caucasus. In 1877, however, de
ciding that foreign competition was an impediment to their own i
1 British navigation with the Black Sea is still so scandalously ill-developed,
in spite of the certain profits to be derived from direct connection with England,
that in 1889 only twenty-six British steam vessels, with a tonnage of 26,425 tons,
entered the port of Trebizond out of a total of 554, with a tonnage of 528,943 tons,
the French in the same period being responsible for 110 steamers with a tonnage
of 159,588 tons. 2 Fifteen Months' Pilgrimage, vol. ii. p. 3.
3 Journal of a Residence, p. 225.
4 This is an interesting statement, as fixing the total amount of imports at the
time, viz., about £1,030,000 ; and as showing how small was the proportion claimed
by the Gulf trade.
*
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 [851v] (1719/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x000078> [accessed 5 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