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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [857r] (1730/1814)
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 575 ,
help them much for merchandise coming from the sea, as the
distance from Ahwaz by road to Burujird and thence to Isfahan
will be about the same as, if not a little more than, the present
distance via Shiraz from Bushire, viz., 500 miles; but, beino-
a wheeled track and equipped with a wagon service, it will provide
both a speediei and a safer transit than do the horrible rock-ladders
of the southern coast range. The great merit of the new route,
when opened and organised, from a British point of view, will be
that the cities and villages of IMestern and South-western Persia
—Dizful, a more northern counterpart of Shushter, Khorremabad,
Burujird, with l/,000 inhabitants and with a surrounding plain
of great productiveness; Sultanabad, the centre of the carpet
industry, and their dependent districts, which are among the
richest corn-growing lands in Persia—will be brought within easy
access of the Gulf, whilst their inhabitants will thereby be drawn
into the mesh of the Lancashire cotton spinner and the Hindu
artisan. Kermanshah with its 60,000 people, and Hamadan with
15,000, at present only served by the Turkish route from Baghdad,,
will also be brought within the southern zone of influence, and
will swell the profits of Manchester and Bombay. A British Vice-
Consul was appointed to Mohammerah in the autumn of 1890, and
has since presented the first trade report ever issued from that
town. 1 He estimates the total value of imports for the year 1890
(all but 1,500/. of which came from India) as 146,140/., and
of exports as 53,100/., of which 49,540/. went to India. The
imports, however, do not include those that are brought dowli
stream in row-boats from Busrah. Nor must it be assumed that
they are entirely destined for Persian consumption, there being a
considerable traffic between Mohammerah, by way of the Bahmeshir,
with Koweit on the opposite or Turkish side of the
Persian Gulf
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
,
which imports its Indian merchandise in this fashion. The river
steamers on the Karun are not as yet much utilised for traffic with
the interior beyond Shushter, owing to the dilatoriness of the
Persian Government in carrying out their promises for the simpli
fication of customs.
Next comes the transit route from the Gulf to Western Persia by
way of the Tigris and Baghdad. In this case, steamers of the British
India Company and the Bombay and Persia Company trade from
Bombay, carrying cargoes from India to the Turkish port of Busrah..
1 Diplomatic and Consular Reports (Annual Series), No. 826, 1891.
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 [857r] (1730/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x000083> [accessed 8 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