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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [856r] (1728/1814)
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
573
English side as to render any analysis of its trade superfluous.
The value of its imports for 1889 was 327,657L, of which nearly
one-half was in cotton goods; of its exports 340,515L, the excess
of the latter being due to the large export of opium, amounting to
more than one-half of the total value. It is when we come to
Isfahan, next to Tabriz the largest distributing centre in Persia,
that the question becomes one of lively interest. Situated at
a point almost mathematically equidistant by road from the two
seas, the Caspian and the Gulf—viz., 500 miles from either,
Isfahan is, so to speak, a battle-ground where northern and southern
influence might be expected to clash, and where much should hang
upon the fate of the duel. It is gratifying, therefore, to be able
to record that, from this crucial test, Great Britain emerges with
easy laurels, four-fifths of the imports into the city being English
or Indian, no Russian firms being established in the place (though
native merchants trade in Russian goods), and Russia only making
fitful efforts to compete from Teheran in certain styles of prints.
From Bushire to Isfahan is a caravan journey for mules of from
thirty to thirty-five days, and the freight of each mule load (two
bales) is 41 krans, or 11. 2s. Qd. From Resht to Isfahan is
a caravan journey of about twenty-five days. I have seen it
lamented in English writings, as an instance of the lack of
enterprise among English merchants, that the European trade with
Isfahan should be in the hands of a Dutch and a Swiss firm. The
critic was in blissful ignorance of the fact that Messrs. Hotz and
Ziegler, the firms in question, are English business houses, trading
from England, almost wholly in English goods, with head offices
at Manchester or London. A third English firm, trading under
the name of the
Persian Gulf
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
Trading Company (formerly Messrs.
Muir, Tweeddy, and Co.), have also opened a branch at Isfahan,
and maintain representatives at Baghdad, Busrah, Bushire, Shiraz,
and Teheran. Messrs. Ziegler have houses or agents at Isfahan,
Yezd, Teheran, Tabriz, Sultanabad, Resht, Meshed, and Shahrud.
Messrs. Hotz confine their energies to the central and southern
zones, and have agents at Bushire, Shiraz, Isfahan, Burujird,
Sultanabad, Yezd, and Baghdad and Busrah in Turkey. Messrs.
Gray, Paul, and Co., large English merchants in Bushire and
Busrah, also keep an agent in Isfahan. Messrs. D. Sassoon and Co.
are represented by Europeans both at Bushire and Isfahan.
In my 19th chapter I gave a list of the main imports into 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 [856r] (1728/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x000081> [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