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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [869v] (1755/1814)
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.
600
PERSIA
with whom they were then compared; but for abjectness I am
not sure that the modern Persians, though still independent,
are not more deserving of the charge than the hzbegs, who at
least fought for their freedom sooner than be unmurmuringly
absorbed.
For my own part, while I hesitate to pronounce a decided
opinion upon a foreign policy which may perhaps find recom-
„ . mendations or excuses that I have overlooked, and while
attitude I admit that Russia is free to play her own game m the
internal manner that she thinks best, I yet hold that her attitude
reform w ith reference to the internal politics of Persia can be
seriously arraigned, and that she can in nowise escape condemnation
for the resistance that she consistently offers to any proposal that has
for its object the genuine requirements of a distressed and backward
country. It may safely be averred, not merely that the opening
of Persia to Western influence, the extension of roads and rail
roads, and the breaking-down of the barriers of obsolete tradition,
might have been hastened by years had Russia chosen to lend her
powerful influence to the effort; but—and this is a much graver
charge—that no scheme for the strengthening of Persia and the
unselfish expansion of her resources can be proposed that is not
certain to meet with the most strenuous opposition that Russia can
exert. It is notorious that the first Reuter Concession in 1872 was
revoked because of the menacing tone adopted by the Russian
Government when the Shah visited St. Petersburg in the following
year. When a batch of Austrian officials came out to organise a
postal service in Persia, in 1874, Russia threw every conceivable
•obstacle in their way; and when, in spite of her efforts, the present
system of internal post had been established, she did all in her
power to prevent Persia from being admitted into the International
Postal Union. The navigation of the Karun river, having been
all but conceded by the Shah on more than one occasion, was again
and again postponed owing to the obstructive tactics of Russian
Ministers. As soon as it was finally granted, an indignant shriek
was laised in Russia, the favourite French doctrine of compensa
tion was invoked, and the outcry was not allayed till counter-
concessions on a large scale had been made to gratify her wounded
pude, the real interests or benefit of Persia never entering for one
The terms of this seciet convention, concluded in the spring of 1889, have
never been revealed, but they are said to have included the following concessions
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 [869v] (1755/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x00009c> [accessed 5 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