![Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎442r] (886/1814)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/Mss Eur F111_33_0898.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎442r] (886/1814)")
Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [442r] (886/1814)
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.
m( 3iture
f Bttsllir e,ii 1
6 p Salw^
1 W attd ‘N
' adTan tegeo ts
!8ate
, never tol> We '
tllls Particn) at
ot \^ course,
feasible,
to winch I h
run river,
of%
RAILWAYS
631
There
or, pei
nujird,
ishedwifoi
o Teheran, ail |
hence witt 4:
uld be will
i Isfahan, Ir
r by any d i
Bushire carai
the export^'
Id traverse®
the sea t® 1 ® i
cl be sf
dsas^
l6 fa^
#1
facilitated by a Moliammerah railroad—viz., to Kum on the north, the
final resting-place of the illustrious Fatima, sister of Imam Reza of
Meshed; to the shrines of Kerbela, Nejef (or Meshed Ali), and
Samara, all in close proximity to the Euphrates or Tigris, and the
last depositories respectively of the hallowed dust of Husein, Ali,
and Imam Hasan Askeri; and, not least, to Mecca itself, whither
the devout Shiah who aspires to become a Haji must go once, at
least, in his lifetime. When we consider the hundreds of thousands
of persons of both sexes who yearly wend their laborious way over
vast distances to these consecrated spots, and remember the extra
ordinary fondness for railway travel of the normal Asiatic, we may
infer no mean return from the booking-offices of a line which would
accommodate so many pious inclinations.
Continuing westwards, we complete our circuit of the entire
Persian frontier when we approach the often-suggested line of
rails from Baghdad to Teheran. The distance would be
dad 6 ^ 11 500 miles, and the important towns of Kermanshah and
.Teheran Hamadan would be passed en route. Already a great deal of
merchandise enters and leaves Persia by this route, and Europeans
in Teheran, desirous of importing some object or article which they
are specially reluctant to expose to the perils of the Iwtcds between
Bushire and Shiraz, are in the habit of sending it up river to
Baghdad, and transporting it thence to the capital. This line
might be expected to do a considerable business, though it would
be a costly one to construct, the ascent from the Chaldean plains
to the Persian plateau being very steep and difficult. But neither
in goods nor in passenger traffic could it compete with the line
last sketched, nor would it tap the resources of so extensive a
country, nor be so easily reached from the sea.
The mention of a Baghdad-Teheran line suggests a concluding
reference to the schemes, of which less is now heard than was once
the case, of a Euphrates Valley railway,, approaching
Baghdad from the Mediterranean and the north-west,
railways Or, perhaps, seeing that other routes than that of the
Euphrates basin have been suggested and supported, it would be
better to include all projects of a transcontinental line entering
Persia from the west under the generic title of Indo-Mediterranean
railways, India being the ultimate destination and the Me i er-
ranean the starting-point in each case, and Persia merely consti-
tuting a link in the intervening connection.
Indo-
Mediter-
ranean
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 [442r] (886/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213846.0x00005d> [accessed 23 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