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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [444v] (891/1814)
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.
636
PERSIA
be costly, absolutely unremunerative, useless to Persia, and perilous
to health.
There are, however, two other lines of Persian extension, which
have been discussed or recommended by the eminent authority
Shushter- °f Sir P. Goldsmid , 1 and which are, therefore, deserving
Bunder care f u l consideration. In either case, starting from
Abbas Baghdad, in connection with a Euphrates or Tigris Valley
railway, the line recommended would pass in an easterly direction
through Persian territory, avoiding the Gulf, by Shushter and Ram
Hormuz, or possibly by Hawizeh, and Ahwaz, to Behbehan,
whence an existing caravan route would be followed to Shiraz.
From Shiraz two lines of communication are available to the sea;
a northerly line by Fasa, Darab, and Forg , 2 or a more southerly
line by Lar, both debouching upon Bunder Abbas. Thence
the railroad would be continued along the Mekran coast to
Kurrachi.
Of this scheme I will merely say that it would meet with
physical difficulties by no means easily or cheaply overcome, that
True line ^ predicates the long Mekran coast continuation, for
of Central which I have no liking, and that it appears to me to
Jl GPSIRH /■» I -i _ #
communi- lorsake the true line of Trans-Persian railway communica
tion, which I should be inclined to place a good deal
cation
more to the north. If ever a railroad is built in a transverse direc
tion across the breadth of Persia, it will surely not be by so
southerly or unremunerative a line that it will be conducted. The
true line would seem rather to be one that shall unite the great
agricultural, manufacturing, and commercial centres of Persia,
and that shall be constructed with reference to Persian as well as
to British requirements. Such a line is more likely to be found
along the track Baghdad, Kermanshah, Burujird, Isfahan, Yezcl,
Kerman, which I believe to be the ultimate route of through
communication by rail, in the far distant days when such a de
velopment becomes possible. Wliat I have elsewhere said with
reference to a Seistan railway will show how this scheme might
connect with the Indian railways, and how it would possess the
Vlde a Lecture entitled On Communications with British India under Possible
Contingencies, read before the R. IT. S. I. on June 14, 1878 ; and a paper on A
.Railway through Southern Persia, read at the British Association in September
1890, and printed m the Scottish Geographical Magazine for December, 1890.
Explored by Mr. J. R. Preece in 1885. Vide Supplementary Proceedings of
the R. G. S., vol. i. 1886, Part HI. J
^fgurope.
but on
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s} r s '
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being continue
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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 [444v] (891/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213846.0x000062> [accessed 10 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