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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [854v] (1725/1814)
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.
570
PERSIA
Afghanistan, this circuitous route to Bokhara is actually cheaper
for Indian tea than the direct route from Peshawur via Kabul. A
pound of tea costing 12 annas in India will cost 16 annas by the
time it has reached Meshed, and 18 annas at Bokhara. If conveyed
via Kabul it will cost 21 annas at its destination, the Amir of
Afghanistan levying 80
rupees
Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf.
(ol. los. 4d.) on every camel-load
•of goods passing through Kabul to Bokhara, and the Amir of
Bokhara levying per cent, ad valorem on the frontier.
A transit trade of no very great volume or importance prevails
between Meshed and north-west Afghanistan. In 1889 the imports
io Meshed ^7 this route into Khorasan were 17,2724., consisting
to Afghan- chiefly of poshtins, pistachio nuts, manna, and opium ;
the exports were 18,299?., consisting of piece goods, sugar,
iron, and steel.
In former days an alternative and a far more direct trade
channel existed between India and North-east Persia by way of
11 . Afghan the Bolan Pass, Kandahar, Farrah, and Herat. The dis-
routeh-om t ance by this route from Chaman, the advanced point of the
India British railway in Beluchistan,to Meshed is only 680 miles,
■or lessthan 30 stages; but the Amir's paralysing exactions—amount
ing to no less than 2/. 2 s. per cwt.—have caused its entire abandon
ment. In the winter of 1890-91, the late Sir R. Sandeman, the able
British Commissioner in Beluchistan, surveyed and traversed the
old
kafilah
A train of travellers; a caravan; or any large party of travellers.
route through Southern Beluchistan to Persia, via Las
Bela and Pangjur, long deserted owing to the unsettled state of
the country. As Beluchistan passes more directly under British
influence, it is possible that this trade route may be reopened, and
may supply an alternative line of entry from British India into,
Southern Persia. Meanwhile, it is gratifying to learn that
another such route from the British outposts at Chaman in
Pishin, through Seistan to Meshed itself has recently been opened
and is now being tentatively pursued. Whereas the camel-
caravans occupy seventy-five to ninety days between Bunder Abbas
and Meshed, this route is only forty days in duration, and rests
not upon a long sea-voyage but on a railway. We may hope and
expect, therefore, to see it largely developed in the future.
I now pass from the northern zones, which fall naturally under
the influence of Russia, in which that influence is, as might be
expected, in the ascendent, but in which, in certain departments,
it is being energetically contested by English or Indian competition,
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 [854v] (1725/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x00007e> [accessed 3 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