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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [867v] (1751/1814)
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.
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^ PERSIA
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^ border of this Persian province, and because she -nows ia i -
could be wrecked at a score of places by a hosti e power in
_ . , . r^i , o • <- ( i-i /~kTT 1 rl Imvp, n,H her
'-A.
possession of those heights. That Rnssxa should have laid hei
railway over a line thus exposed is in itself an evidence of t e
security of her supremacy and of the contempt with winch she
quite justifiably regards any hostile movement on the part
Persia To the latter her designs are presumably as well known
as to herself, and have, indeed, been officially condoned m advance.
For is it not one of the open secrets of diplomacy t la m j oi
thereabouts, in one of the chronic intervals of Russian menace and
Persian humiliation, a secret treaty (never yet revealed) was con
cluded between Russia and Persia, by which, under certain con
ditions, Russian forces are allowed to occupy Khorasan . He w 10
thinks, be he Shah or private individual, that the Cossacks, when
once they have marched down the Khiaban of Meshed, are i -e v
ever again to evacuate it, must be but a blind student of the way
in which Russia makes history in Central Asia. It will matter
little that her Government may have given the most solemn
assurances of the integrity, of the Persian dominions to England,
or to any other power. When Khiva was taken and Meir
annexed, what became of the paper guarantees of their freedom ?
Let me, in justice to Russia, explain that not without reason
she boasts of having rendered genuine service to Persia m the
direction more particularly of Khorasan—service for
which she may not unreasonably look for some return.
She liberated, as I have mentioned, several thousand
Persian captives at Khiva, at Geok Tepe, and at Merv, and returned
them, without demanding ransom, to their homes. By her subju
gation of the Turkoman tribes she has relieved the whole of
northern Khorasan from the scourge of perpetual devastation, has
rendered life secure and agriculture possible. By her annexa-
Russian
services
to Persia
-H rm
Ur-m ndministration of the Transcasu
1 Mr. Benjamin, who was Minister in Teheran at the time, says in his book
(Persia and the Persians, p. 481): ‘ It was also stated at the time (1883) that
Russia goaded the Shah into secretly signing an offensive and defensive treaty
with Russia, in which he agreed to side with that power and against England in
the event of war. When this transaction came to light, England at once declared
that it was impossible for such a treaty to be in existence; and Russia dissembled,
as the time had not yet come for full revelation of her purposes. But I have every
reason to believe that a treaty of such nature was drawn up ; whether it was
signed is more doubtful.’ Mr. Benjamin need not have doubted. The signatures
were there.
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 [867v] (1751/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x000098> [accessed 11 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