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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [371v] (745/1814)
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.
508
PERSIA
Nestorians proper, and these, again, are not on the most harmonious
terms with the Chaldseans, or Catholic Nestonans. The Aimenians
gaze askance upon the United (or Catholic) Armenians, and both
unite m retarding’ the work of the Thotestant missions. Finally,
the hostility of the Jews may, as a rule, be reckoned upon. In the
various countries of the East in which I have travelled, from Syria
to Japan, I have been struck by the strange and, to my mind,
sorrowful phenomenon, of missionary bands waging the noblest of
warfares under the banner of the King of Peace with fratricidal
weapons in their hands.
And now, with regard to the practical results of all this excel
lent, if not always harmonious, enterprise. In my remarks upon
Practical tlie Nestorian Christians I shall show that the mission-
results ar ies have there performed, and continue to perform, a
highly meritorious work. The same may be said of Dr. Bruce’s
labour among the Armenians at Julfa. But, after all, the temper
of mission work is propagandist, and the zealous missionary is ill-
satisfied unless he is adding to the fold as well as confirming its
existing members. If, then, the criterion of missionary enterprise
in Persia be the number of converts it has made from Islam, I do
not hesitate to say that the prodigious expenditure of money, of
honest effort, and of sacrificing toil that has been showered upon
that country has met with a wholly inadequate return. Young
Mohammedans have sometimes been baptised by Christian mis
sionaries. But this must not too readily be confounded with
conversion, since the bulk of the newcomers relapse into the
faith of their fathers; and I question if, since the day when
Henry Martyn set foot in Shiraz up till the present moment,
half a dozen Persian Mohammedans have genuinely embraced
the Christian creed . 1 I have myself often inquired for, but have
never seen, a converted Mussulman (I exclude, of course, those
derelicts or orphans of Mussulman parents who are brought up
from childhood in Christian schools). Nor am I surprised at even
the most complete demonstration of failure. Putting aside the
1 Canon Isaac Taylor, in his well-known article, entitled 4 The Great Missionary
Failure,’ in the Fortnightly Review of 1888, said of Persia : 4 In Persia, we are told
that 44 a great and wondrous door has been opened for the Gospel ”; but no con
verts are mentioned, and the door seems to consist of a Persian who reads the
Bible, which is one of his own sacred books. I have several correspondents among'
the Persian Moslems, and they continually quote the Bible, with which they seem
to be almost as familiar as with the Koran.’
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 [371v] (745/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213845.0x000098> [accessed 4 July 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