Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [886r] (1788/1814)
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
633
tempted to think that Epimenides must have mistaken the subjects
of Ms famous aphorism. Notwithstanding long experience this
accomplishment never fails to startle, and sometimes even to e
wilder ; and it divests nine-tenths of a Persian’s assurances of the
smallest value. I am convinced that a true son of Iran would
sooner lie than tell the truth ; and that he feels twinges of desperate
remorse when, upon occasions, he has thoughtlessly strayed into
veracity. Yet they are an agreeable people—agreeable to encounter,
agreeable to associate with, perhaps not least agreeable to leave
behind. From this composite presentment it is perhaps difficult to
extract any really reliable basis of sanguine prognostication. Never
theless there remain three attributes of the Persian character which
lead me to think that that people are not yet, as has been asserted,
wholly ‘ played out ’; that they are neither sunk in the sombre
atrophy of the Turk, nor threatened with the ignoble doom of the
Tartar; but that there are chances of a possible redemption. These
are their irrepressible vitality ; an imitativeness long notorious in the
East, 1 and capable of honourable utilisation; and, in spite of occa
sional testimony to the contrary, a healthy freedom from deep
seated prejudice or bigotry. History suggests that the Persians
will insist upon surviving themselves ; present indications that they
will gradually absorb the accomplishments of others.
1 feel compelled, however, to end with a word of caution.
Colossal schemes for the swift regeneration of Persia are not m my
Festina judgment-though herein I differ from some other
lente authorities—to be thought of, and will only end m asco^
Magnificent projects for overlaying the country with a network o,
railways from north to south, and from east to west, and or
equipping it with a panoply of factories and workships and mi s,
can only end in financial disaster, and bring discredit upon then-
promoters. Hot-headed concessions for making or exporting or
importing every article under the sun, from telephones to tobacco
and from rose-water to roulette-tables, contain no element o
durable advantage, and are seldom devised with any other object
than to put money into the pocket of the originators of the scheme.
Money will flow more smoothly, and industry will be more rapid y
developed, by following the recognised channels. 2 The same may be
> Again let me quote Herodotus (lib. i. 136): 5e v6^m nqxra,
kvZpHu udXio-ra ■ Kal eviraSdas T£ ^ToScarM .
2 How true were the above words, which appeared in one o£ my original letters
in the ‘ Times,’ has already been proved by the collapse of the Tobacco Regie.
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 [886r] (1788/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x0000bd> [accessed 21 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
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