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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [872r] (1760/1814)
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.
border of many hundred miles, and almost contiguous to the western
limits of our Indian Empire, be not sufficient to establish its over
imperial wlielmin g political significance to Englishmen, at least the
description which has been given of Russian policy, and
Russian tactics in Persia, will. That Russia covets Meshed because
it will assist her to Herat; that she covets Seistan because it will
open to her Beluchistan ; that she covets the whole of Northern
Persia because it will supply her with resources in which her
own Central Asian possessions are woefully deficient, and which
will render her military and offensive strength far more formidable
than it is at present; that she has an eye upon the
Persian Gulf
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
because it may give her a dockyard and ships in the Indian Seas,
—all these are points which to my mind no man in his senses can
doubt. Neither can I think that she is ill-judged in her aspira
tions, ample and even exorbitant though they may appear to be.
The history of her Central Asian advance has taught her that to
get much she must lay claim to much; that to be successful she
must be encroaching ; and that she can with impunity ignore the
most elementary axioms of international ethics. But in England
we are not called upon to regard the question from a Russian, but
from an English point of view. Unless, therefore, we are pre
pared to see Persia fall into the plight of Bokhara and Khiva, and
to concede to a Power whose interests in Central Asia may in the
future, if they do not now, clash with our own, an incalculable
accretion of strength, Englishmen must be up and stirring, and
the preservation, so far as is still possible, of the integrity of Persia
must be registered as a cardinal precept of our Imperial creed.
The recognition of this principle by British Governments has
prevailed at intervals of greater or less frequency, and with greater
History of or l ess earnestness—too often the latter—throughout the
Angio- present century. Since Sir John Malcolm first landed
Persian 1 ^ -i -n • i
relations at Bushire in 1800 down to the present day, Persia has-
alternately advanced and receded in the estimation of British
statesmen, occupying now a position of extravagant prominence,
anon one of unmerited obscurity. At one time she has been the-
occasion or the recipient of a lavish and almost wanton prodigality
at another, she has been treated with penurious meanness. Public
opinion in this country and in India with regard to Persian politics
has been either at a white heat, or has subsided into an inert
stupor. We have made treaties with Persia, imposing upon our-
t
About this item
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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 [872r] (1760/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x0000a1> [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