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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [189v] (381/1814)
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.
200
PERSIA
Kain
Kain is ruled by an Arab Amir, in whose family is vested a
hereditary chieftainship, and who among the border chieftains of
the south occupies a position analogous and even superior
to that enjoyed by the Ilkhanis of Bujnurd and Kuchan on
the north. Mir Alam Khan, the present Governor, is probably the
most powerful subject of the Persian Crown. Now more than sixty
years of age, of strong character, and with a formidable reputation
for severity, he has cleared his province of the roving bands of
marauders, principally Afghans and Beluchis, who used to lay it
waste with impunity ; and is so big a personage that he requires to
be very cautiously interfered with by the Central Power. The Amir
was already Governor at the time of the Seistan Boundary Com
mission in 1872, and did not behave with any excess of civility to
Sir F. Goldsmid. However, as the area of his own dominions was
at stake, Seistan being a subdivision of his province, there was-
perhaps some excuse for offence; and he has since been extremely
attentive to such Englishmen as have gone his way. He bears a
ceremonious title, conferred upon him by the Shah, and holds the
rank of an Amir-i-
Toman
10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value.
, or Major-General in the Persian army.
The sovereignty of the Crown is typified by a detachment of Persian
artillery in the fort at Birjand. (The Amir has since died,
November 1891.)
The inhabitants of the khanate are of Persian and Arab de
scent, and are estimated at not less than 80,000. Formerly the seat
Popula- g° vemment was ^ ie town of Kain ; but it has now been
tion and transferred to Birjand, a larger unwalled city, with 14,000'
inhabitants. Colonel Stewart reports that opium is
enormously grown and consumed here, and that hundreds are said
to die yearly from excessive indulgence . 1 The military contribu-
of the Amir is /00 horsemen, from Kain and Seistan combined;
and two regiments of infantry, which are called out in turn, one
doing duty in Seistan, while the other is disbanded in Birjand.
Seistan, as I have indicated, is one of the beluks or subdivisions
of the province of Kain, and is administered by a deputy of the
Vide a most interesting paper by Colonel C. E. Stewart, entitled ‘ The Herat
Valley and the Peisian Border from the Heri Rud to Sistan,'Proceedivys of the
M G.S. (New Senes), vol. viii. pp. 137-156 (1886). Kain has been described by
the Seistan Boundary Commission, 1872 (i. Col. Euan Smith, Eastern Persia, vol.
i. pp. SSd-SlS ; n. H. W. Bellew, From the Indus to the Tigris, pp. 320-322), and by
(Sir) C. MacGregor, Journey through Khorasan, pp. 161, 162. For Biriand, ride
the same writers on adjoining pages.
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 [189v] (381/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213843.0x0000bc> [accessed 11 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