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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [864v] (1745/1814)
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.
590 PERSIA
Persian territories of Kulkulab, Germab, and Kelta Chenai, and
are daily appropriating more and more of the head-waters of the
mountain streams. These movements are typical of a policy which
may temporarily content itself with such small pickings, but whose
ambition ranges over a much wider ultimate horizon, and is sup-
ported by powerful guarantees of success.
Let us indeed pause to contrast the position enjoyed by Eussia
in relation to Persia now with that which she occupied at the close
Ascend- of her last war, over sixty years ago ; remembering that
ency on an y advantages subsequently acquired have been gained
N.w. under shelter of peace, and without firing a shot, by the
pressure of a diplomacy which, whatever its moral standard, has
never committed the culpable error of forgetting or concealing its
own strength. At the time when, by the treaties above mentioned,
the Caspian Sea was first converted into a Russian lake, Russia
possessed neither military nor mercantile marine upon those waters.
Many hundred steamers now plough the Caspian waves and, in the
absence of any other navy whatsoever, control its shores for pur
poses either of commerce or aggression. The great improvements
in river navigation on the Volga have also brought the mili
tary resources of Kazan and Central Russia in general into close
communication with her Asiatic dominions. Sixty years ago the
Caucasus was unsubdued, and the countrymen of Schamyl were no
slight thorn in the flesh. Tiflis is now the military capital of a
territory whose army contains a peace strength of 101.500, and a
mobilised capacity of 270,000 men. A line of railway connects
the Black and Caspian Seas, and will shortly be brought into cor
respondence with the systems of European Russia. All possible
opposition, every conceivable obstacle, has in fact disappeared upon
the northern side, and has been replaced by conditions of over
whelming strategical superiority.
If we shift our gaze to the east we observe a Russian vantage-
ground which, if more tardily acquired, is not one whit less
Position in substantial. Prior to her Turkoman campaigns, and
the n.e. while the terror inspired by those greatly overrated
robbers still rendered it doubtful whether a European power would*
ever venture upon the sands of the Kara Kum, Russia pursued her
object in the eastern portion of the Shah’s dominions under the
more subtle guise of commercial benevolence. Consuls or Consular
agents were gradually stationed at the various ports or towns, first
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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 [864v] (1745/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x000092> [accessed 4 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