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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [884r] (1784/1814)
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.
BRITISH AND RUSSIAN POLICY IN PERSIA
629
puts on the strait-jacket of civilisation, it is with as wry a face as
the victim of the Spanish Inquisition when first confronted by the
thumbscrew or the rack. I can also well believe that her re
demption will not be accomplished without some outbreak of
fanaticism; it may even be retarded by the recoil consequent upon
a too precipitate advance. Just as in modern Japan there exists
a party, recruited, not from the older, but among the younger
spirits." who resent the Europeanisation of their country, and
whose'baffled patriotism finds vent in occasional outbursts^ of
violence or despair, so I can conceive that in Persia, at any time
of public disorder, a strong reaction might be set on foot by the
retrograde and priestly party, and that the life and property o
Europeans might be in temporary peril. Already there is a
widespread feeling of discontent at the policy of concessions to
foreigners upon which the Shah has latterly been persuaded to
embark and the recent successful outbreak against the Tobacco
Corporation has stimulated a movement which a stronger Govern
ment might easily-have repressed. Mullahs have publicly preached
against the Europeans, and cursed them in the streets ; anonymous
letters have been sent broadcast throughout the country inciting
to rebellion; it is said that the Shah’s life has been threatened,
and that the palace guards have been doubled. These rumours
may in some cases have been exaggerated, or, if true, may have been
partly the handiwork of personal intrigue. Still, it is not surprising
that in a country still so fast bound m the manacles of Moiam-
medan prejudice and superstition there should be some recru
descence of bigotry at the admission of th ^ 0r61 f “.
so large a scale. The native usurers see then illicit peice g
reduced almost to vanishing-point by the Imperial Bank; mer
chants and landowners detested the mquisi oria con
Tobacco Regie ; and governors and grandees find then chartere
HcenseTof prerogative seriously curtailed by the ^
ambassadors and the operation of treaties. I do not say t^t th ^
hostile ebullitions, even if they assume a more serious fonn, w
permanently jeopardise the good work that is being taken in
hand, but tU should render the outside public not unprepared
for a serious pliase of reaction. r* f nrrn
Such are the impediments that exist to the progress of lefoim.
On the other hand are features of more than balancing encour g
ment and advantage, an examination of which may lead us to be
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 [884r] (1784/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x0000b9> [accessed 9 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