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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [867r] (1750/1814)
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.
BRITISH AND RUSSIAN POLICY IN PERSIA 595
It may, however, be thought that I am doing the Russians an
injustice by attributing to them designs which they would repudiate
Evidence themselves, and which may be only the figments of a
‘ Novoe disordered imagination. Lest I should be suspected of
Vremya ’ such an offence against honesty and truth, let me give a
definition of Russia s attitude towards Khorasan as enunciated by
her own spokesmen. On December 1,1888, the following passage
appeared in the ‘ Novoe Vremya ’:—
Our attention has been the more concentrated upon the necessity
of subordinating Khorasan—which is closely connected with Trans-
caspia, and should be economically and industrially dependent upon it
to the exclusive influence of Russia, as through Khorasan lies a con-
venient road in the direction of Herat, and in the event of military
operations against India, Khorasan will form the victualling base for
our operations further on. It is also of great importance, because
within its limits rise the streams that irrigate the cultivated belts of
the Akhal and Atek territories, the control of the distribution of whose
waters is accordingly a necessary condition to the prosperity and success
of our new Transcaspian province. 1
When the cat is to be let out of the bag, commend me to a
Russian newspaper for the uncompromising manner in which the
operation is performed! Here we have definitely recommended
(i) a suzerainty, or exclusive political control over Khorasan; (2) the
actual appropriation of its soil; and (3) its ultimate utilisation as
a base of military operations against the Indian Empire of Great
Britain. The c Novoe Vremya' might have added, what every
soldier knows, that one of the reasons for which Russia looks with
such feverish anxiety upon the future of Khorasan, is because the
Transcaspian Railway, invaluable as a military weapon though it
be, is threatened along a flank 300 miles in length by the mountain
the commands of the Emperor to annihilate the kingdom of Persia, and to render
her a province of the Russian Empire.’
1 The only prominent Russian spokesman who, so far as I know, has ever
directly denied the covetous intentions of Russia with regard to Khorasan was
General Skobeleff, who said, in an interview with the late Mr. Marvin: ‘Why
should we occupy Khorasan ? We should only get provisions from the province, and
we could get them as it is. We derive a revenue from Khorasan now by its trade
with Nijni Novgorod; but we should lose this if we occupied it. I do not believe
Russia will ever occupy Khorasan. I think the new frontier will be permanent.’
This was only a piece of blague on the part of Skobeleff. We remember that he
was equally confident that the Transcaspian Railway would not go beyond Ash-
kabad, and that Merv would never be annexed by Russia !
Q Q 2
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 [867r] (1750/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x000097> [accessed 23 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