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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [856v] (1729/1814)
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.
574
PERSIA
exports from the bazaars of Isfahan, with the countries from or to
which they severally come and go. The upshot of the information
there collected was that Isfahan may be regarded as the northern
outpost of the zone of undoubted British influence, whence
reconnaissances are being energetically pushed forward in the
direction of Teheran and the populous cities of the west provinces.
A few years ago it was quite anticipated that the trade of Isfahan
would slip from English fingers, and dirges were chanted upon the
impending doom. But a recrudescence of commercial activity in
the south, attended by other circumstances which contributed to
the same result, has led to a remarkable reassertion of British
supremacy. Among the subsidiary causes must be counted the
increasing luxury of the Persian upper and middle classes, and the
unbusinesslike methods and long credits in which the Russian
merchants, particularly at Tabriz, have indulged in their efforts to
take the northern markets by storm. As a consequence, there has
been a contraction of the total volume of trade in the north, and
the corresponding expansion in the south which I have already
sketched.
Finally, I come to the western zone, which possesses one
developed and one undeveloped avenue of commercial entry into
Western Persia, the former at present absorbing a great deal of
i 5 n Mo- tlie trac * e wilicil tlie latter will eventually attract. I
hammer all- allude to the Baghdad and the Mohammerah routes.
Burujird P° tl ie latter, which can scarcely claim, as yet, to be
included among the recognised channels of commerce,
I have before made allusion in discussing the question of Persian
roads and the navigation of the Karun River. From Shushter a
caravan track, that has been explored and described by Mr.
Mackenzie, Major Wells, General Schindler, and Mr. Lynch, leads
by Mai Amir through the Bakhtiari country, a total distance of
260 miles, to Isfahan. But the rugged and perilous character of
this route,' and the absence of bridges or caravanserais, have pre
vented its adoption by the Isfahan merchants, and there appears to
be no immediate chance, in spite of the Karun Concession, of its behm
at all widely utilised. The road scheme, of which I have spoken
as now m course of execution, contemplates a branch road from
Burujird to Isfahan, a distance of 210 miles; and I hear that the
merchants of the latter place are looking forward with sanguine
anticipations to its completion. As regards distance, it will not
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 [856v] (1729/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x000082> [accessed 2 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