Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [862r] (1740/1814)
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
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585
CHAPTER XXX.
BRITISH AND RUSSIAN POLICY IN PERSIA.
Why cut the thread of friendship with the shears of uncertainty ?
Abdur Rahman Khan, Letter to the Viceroy of Indioj.
Lest brute power be increased
Till that o’ergrown Barbarian in the East
Transgress his ample bound to some new crown.
Tennyson, Early Sonnets.
In previous chapters I have discussed at length the internal politics
of modern Persia. This concluding chapter I devote to her foreign
Foreign P 0 ^ C X a subject which practically resolves itself into her
Persia ° f re l a fi on s with the rival powers of Great Britain and
Afghan- Russia, her Government being only brought into contact
with other European nations and with America in matters
affecting missionaries and trade, that might almost be disposed of
by consular officials, and seem, to, scarcely justify the expensive
establishments maintained by France, Germany, Italy, and Austria
at Teheran. Persia has, indeed, two Asiatic neighbours, with whom
her frontiers are coterminous over a distance of many hundred miles
on the east and west; but her relations with Afghanistan and Turkey
do not here require more than a passing comment. With both
powers she is on terms of ambiguous friendship, which the fears
of either party alone prevent from assuming a less disguised ex
pression. Both the Turks and the Afghans are Sunni Mohamme
dans; and a devout Shiah would almost leave off cutting a Christian’s
throat to shift his grip to that of a cursed Sunni. Both the Sultan
and the Amir hold large tracts of territory that were once included
within the Persian dominions. The possession of the sacred Shiah
shrines of Kerbela and Xejef by Abdul Hamid is a sore point only ex
celled in bitterness by the spectacle of Abdur Rahman’s flag floating
over the ramparts of Herat. Persia, indeed, cannot forget that what
is now Western Afghanistan has through the greater part of history
been Eastern Khorasan, that Herat has been habitually ruled by
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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- 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
![Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎862r] (1740/1814) Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎862r] (1740/1814)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/Mss Eur F111_33_1770.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg)