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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [838r] (1692/1814)
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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COMMERCE AND TRADE 541
between England and Persia winch had been dropped 150 years
before. His death put an end to the scheme; but in December
1734 the Empress Anne, in faithful execution of his ideas, signed
a concession granting to British subjects the right of carrying'
merchandise through Russia to and from Persia on payment of a
3 per cent, ad valorem duty. A little later, in 1738, John Elton,
an Englishman of rare, but impetuous, genius, and the real father
of the revived scheme, having acquired some experience of Central
Asia in the Russian service, and having formed the idea that the
resources of the Khanates might be tapped by a new route pro
ceeding from Astrabad to Bokhara, proposed to some of the factors,
of the British Russia Company in St. Petersburg to open this new
artery of trade. With one Mungo Graham he left Moscow in 1739,
sailed from Astrakhan, landed at Pir-4-Bazaar, and having addressed
a formal petition to Reza Kuli Mirza, son of Nadir Shah, then
ruling as regent at Meshed in the absence of his father in India,
received a decree from the prince authorising him to land goods
and trade everywhere in the Persian dominions from the Caspian
to Attock on the Indus—-an interesting corollary to Nadir's con
quests six months before—to hire or to build houses at Resht or at
any other place, and to pay custom dues only upon landing. Elated
by this advantage, Elton appears to have formed an altogether
exaggerated notion of the prospects of future trade. Returning
to St. Petersburg, he wrote a magniloquent letter to the British
minister, from which I have previously quoted, and so inflamed the
imagination of the London merchants that, in spite of the strenuous
opposition of the Turkey and
Levant
A geographical area corresponding to the region around the eastern Mediterranean Sea.
Company, and of the East
India Company, who were alarmed at competition from so novel a
quarter, a powerful movement was organised by the Russia Com
pany, the Government was won over, several members of the com
pany were called to the bar of the House of Commons to give ex
planations, and finally an Act of Parliament was passed authorising
and regulating the trade. The record of these and of the subsequent
proceedings has been handed down to us by the graphic pen of
Jonas Hanway, himself one of the leading spirits in the sequel,
and a London citizen and philanthropist of high repute and in
telligence. 1
1 An Historical Account of the British Trade over the Caspian Sea, fc. (4vols.
1753; 2 vols. 1754, 1762). Jonas Hanway, though Dr. Johnson said of him that
‘ he acquired some reputation by travelling abroad, but lost it all by travelling at
home,’ was eminent both as merchant, voyager, public official, philanthropist, and
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 [838r] (1692/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x00005d> [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