![Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎875r] (1766/1814)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/Mss Eur F111_33_1796.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎875r] (1766/1814)")
Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [875r] (1766/1814)
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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BRITISH AND RUSSIAN POLICY IN PERSIA
611
Indo
European
line
cerned enabled them in the course of the same year to secure the
requisite concessions from Germany, Russia, and Persia, the unique
4 . New advantage of the projected line being that between
Lowestoft and Kurrachi the wires only passed through
the territories of those three powers; the concession was
then disposed of to the Indo-European Telegraph Company ; and
finally, on January ol, 1870, the new line was opened between
London and leheran, where it joined the already existing wires to
Bushire and Kurrachi. 1
Almost simultaneously the confusion existing upon the land
lines had caused the revival in another quarter of the abandoned
scheme for a submarine cable between England and
India ; and in the same year, 1867, the Eastern Company
was formed for the construction of such a line by the
Mediterranean and Red Seas to Bombay. Two cables were laid
5, Sub
marine
cable
from Falmouth, via Gibraltar
the marine route was opened at
[alta, Suez, and Aden, and in 1870
ipLout the same time as its overland
rival. The Indian .Governmenf iia-s entered into a joint-purse
agreement with both companies, and the division of the traffic
between the three existing lines from England to India is now as
follows: The Eastern Company gets 64 per cent., the Indo-
European Company 34J per cent., and the Turkish Government l-J
per cent. Meanwhile the tariff between England and India, which
in 1865-8 stood at hi. for a message of 20 words, has, owing to
the healthy competition thus engendered, and to the subsequent
improvements in telegraphy, fallen by successive stages, until
by either of the companies’ wires it now stands at 5 francs a word,
and by the Turkish lines, which are much slower, at 4^ francs
a word. Simultaneously there has been a proportionate improve
ment in the speed of transmission. In 1867 a message was con
sidered fortunate if it reached India within three days of being
despatched from London. When the companies opened their lines
in 1870, this was reduced successively to one day, eight hours, and
six hours, and at the present time there is an average interval of
only one and a half hour between despatch and delivery.
1 The line followed by the wires of the combined management, Indo-European
Company and Indian Government, is as follows: London to Lowestoft 117 miles,
Emden 274 knots, Thorn (i.e. through Germany) 720 miles, Julfa (i.e. through
Russia via Warsaw, Odessa, Kertch, and Tiflis) 2,600 miles, Teheran 456 miles,
Bushire 810 miles (i.e. through Persia 1,266 miles), Kurrachi 1,065 knots.
k. u 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 [875r] (1766/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x0000a7> [accessed 4 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