![Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎735v] (1487/1814)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/Mss Eur F111_33_1503.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎735v] (1487/1814)")
Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [735v] (1487/1814)
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.
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in the year; and I inspected one still on the stocks, which was to
carry over 250 tons, and to cost, all complete, between 2,000Z. and
3,000Z. The workmen were employed in smearing shark’s oil over
the outer timbers, a local recipe for seaworthiness. The town
possesses some forty boats of large size, engaged in the coasting
trade both with the Persian and with the opposite Arabian shore;
and at the time of the pearl fisheries about the same number of
craft put out from its harbour to try their fortune on the banks.
The smaller craft for shore use are simple dug-outs, and, there
being no timber in the country, are imported from the African
Native coast. I observed here a method of rowing the larger
craft boats that I have not seen elsewhere. There are no seats
in the boat; but four or five men sit facing each other upon the
gunwale on either side in the fore part, and pull large oars re
spectively over their right and left shoulders. There is no rudder
or coxswain, but the stern oar steers. I am generally disposed
to think that each place has found out by experience the method
of progression, the vehicle, or the craft, that is best adapted
to the local conditions; though I confess to having been shaken
in my hypothesis by the Russian tarantass and the catamaran of
Ceylon ; but I cannot help thinking that an elementary know
ledge of dynamics would acquaint the simple boatman of Lingah
with the fact that their method involves a quite unpardonable
waste of force.
Lingah is the chief port for the Persian province of Laristan,
and has long plied a thriving trade with Bahrein and the Arab
coast. Its foreign trade is of more recent origin (the
village of Kong, -seven miles down the coast, having been
? The site of the Dutch establishment), but has had a very rapid
growth. About 100,000Z. worth of cotton goods is imported in
yC the year ; but on an average nearly one half of the total imports
(in value) is in pearls, between 300,000L and 400,000Z. worth of
which enter the port annually. That the bulk of these goods
merely pass through Lingah in transit elsewhere is shown by the
table of exports, in which the quantity and value of the same
articles stand at almost the same figure. Persian tobacco is among
the chief articles of export, and is destined for the Turkish market.
On the other hand, a stronger quality is imported from Oman for
local consumption. The manner in which the British Consular
tables relating to this port have been compiled, the same items
Trade
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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 [735v] (1487/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213849.0x000058> [accessed 11 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