![Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎878v] (1773/1814)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/Mss Eur F111_33_1803.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎878v] (1773/1814)")
Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [878v] (1773/1814)
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.
J3f
618
PERSIA
Britisli Government in disagreeable responsibilities, and that if
not attached they will decline to obey the Minister s orders. There
is much force in these objections, particularly if applied to any
thing like a wholesale or indiscriminate scheme of employment.
But in cases of approved merit, I conceive that they do not hold
good ; nor should they discourage that exploration to which I
believe that many a telegraphist would gladly devote his holidays
were there any chance of receiving either the encouragement or
the thanks of Government. 1 Within a few miles of some of the
telegraph lines the country is still unexplored and almost
unknown, although colonies of the most adventurous race in the
globe have been planted for a quarter of a century in the
neighbourhood.
Such, then, has been the history of British relations with
Persia in this century, as conducted respectively by the statesman,.
- , the soldier, the merchant, and the civil engineer. The
the states- second and the fourth of these have, for the time
th^mer- being, finished their work. The future is in the hands
chant 0 f the first and the third. The statesman must at the
same time avoid the shameful folly of indifference, and yet, ac
cording to my judgment, must hold aloof from the rupee policy
of Malcolm and his immediate successors, who, where they thought
to attach, did but degrade. His policy in the future is the
guidance of Persia along the pathway of material expansion and
internal reform. Backed by him, and profiting by the openings
which it is the object of his diplomacy to secure, the function of
the merchant is to supply Persia with that which she needs, and
by commercial channels to win her to sympathy with Europe and
with civilisation. In the matter of moral regeneration, it is
difficult, if not impossible, for foreigners, save by the force of
example, to interfere; and if Persia prefers to remain buried in
moral and intellectual torpor, there exist no means of directly
combating her resolution. But in the enterprise of mercantile
and industrial development is to be found a vast and, as yet, almost
1 The only instances known to me of such performance in the past are the
journey of J. R. Preece from Shiraz to Jask, published, in the Supplement cut y JPto-
ceedings of the R.G.S., 1886, and E. A. Floyer’s exploration of Beluchistan, the
tale of which is told in Unexplored Beluchistan. At the present time the Tele-
graph signallers and clerks are barely able to leave their offices at all, inasmuch as
they are required to test five times a day, at the hours of 6,10, 2, 5, and 9, in order
to see that through communication is unbroken.
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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 [878v] (1773/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x0000ae> [accessed 27 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