![Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎880v] (1777/1814)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/Mss Eur F111_33_1807.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎880v] (1777/1814)")
Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [880v] (1777/1814)
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.
622
£RSIA
to be gaining ground in Persia that British counsels are framed,
not with a purely selfish object, but with an honest desiie foi the
country’s gain. The Shah has given practical evidence of his
sympathies in the concessions with regard to the Karun rivei,
and the Imperial Bank. His recognition of the commercial
aspect of English influence was shown by the interest with
which he scrutinised the operations and productions of our
manufacturing industries when on his tour in the summer of
1889 through the smoky capitals of the Midlands and the
North. With the bulk of his subjects I believe that the English
are personally popular, except when they adopt the brow-beating
tone, a line of conduct which is in the last degree abhorrent to a
people who pride themselves on civility of deportment, and possess
a natural dignity. To the question propounded by myself in my
opening chapter as to the impression produced in Persia by the
great reception given to the Shah in England, the reply may be
made that in the absence of newspapers or means of transmitting
foreign intelligence, the majority of his people are probably
ignorant of it altogether; that the minor officials, who in Persia
are among the most conceited and intolerable of the human race,
would be disposed to regard it as a symptom of British weakness
and of the transcendant importance of their own sovereign; but
that the higher ranks of society, the Ministers and men of influence,
whose opinion alone is worth considering, were much and favourably
impressed both by the tokens of friendly feeling and by the
evidences of national strength. The greater the intercourse
between the two peoples becomes and the wider the interchange
of mutual amenities, whether of commerce or society, of good-
fellowship or business, the speedier will be the recognition of
common interests, and the arrival of the moment when Persia shall
look upon Great Britain as her most natural ally, and Great Britain
upon Persia as her willing friend.
Whilst to my surprise and satisfaction I discovered the exist
ence of so powerful a British influence in Persia, I found the
Kussian control exercised by Russia, in spite of her tremendous
influence physical superiority, to be by no means so great as I had
been led to believe. I found that Persian ministers declined to be
browbeaten by Russian ministers j that Russian diplomacy was bv
no means uniformly successful; and that the Shah, if properly
backed up, could even return a decided No to his very good friend
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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 [880v] (1777/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x0000b2> [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