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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [864r] (1744/1814)
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.
589
BRITISH AND RUSSIAN POLICY IN PERSIA
designs which it is beyond question that it is to be utilised to
promote.
Firstly, then, as to Russia’s claims and pretensions in Persia.
I venture without fear of contradiction upon the statement that
Russian these are distinctly, and in parts avowedly, hostile. Sur-
of Persian the history of the present century, we see that,
sni1 . pi ece by piece, partly by open war and partly by furtive
nibbling, Russia has appropriated more and more of Persian soil.
L\ the treaty of Gulistan, in 1813, she acquired from Persia the
provinces of Georgia, Imeritia, Mingrelia, and Persian Daghestan,
Shhvan, Ganjeh, Karabagh. parts of Talish, and the ports of
Derbend and Baku, while Persia was prohibited from maintaining
any armed vessels upon the Caspian. In 1828, by the treaty of
Turkomanchai, besides confirming these conquests, she gained
Erivan, Nakhchivan (including the Armenian religious centre,
Echmiadzin), as well as a war idemnity of nearly 3,500,000h
Since then it is true that no open hostilities have occurred between
the two countries ; but the process of territorial absorption has con
tinued under the cover of an amicable alliance, and is being
stealthily pursued at this very hour. In the course of the Shah’s
recent visit to Europe I observed that some too flattering courtier
congratulated His Majesty upon not having lost or ceded one inch
of Persian soil during his long and, on the whole, meritorious
reign. This compliment must have caused its recipient an in
ward twinge. Did he, perhaps, remember that in 1869, when the
Russians occupied Krasnovodsk and Balkan Bay, he had protested
against the act as a violation of Persian territory ? And if this
could be contended of those places, how much more would it hold
good of Chikishliar and Ashurada ? Even if it be admitted thah
the Persian sovereignty over Merv was but a shadowy claim (though
it has been more than once acknowledged by the Tekkes them
selves), yet it is beyond question that the Transcaspian conquests
of Russia have transferred many Persian villages to Russian hands.
The pastures of the Atek, lying below the Kopet Dagh, the villages
of Kaahka, Mehna, Chacha, and Dushak, the position at Sarakhs
—all these were once Persian property, but are so no more. In
my chapters upon Khorasan I have shown that the erosive process
is still going on; and the Persians have more than once complained
of the too liberal interpretation of the Akhal Boundary Treaty of
1881, by which the Russians have included within their border the
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 [864r] (1744/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x000091> [accessed 6 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