![Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎868r] (1752/1814)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/Mss Eur F111_33_1782.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎868r] (1752/1814)")
Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [868r] (1752/1814)
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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BRITISH AND RUSSIAN POLICY IN PERSIA
diminished the prestige and weakened the power of the border
chieftains of Khorasan, and enabled the Central Government at
Teheran to establish an authority over them which before was
habitually disputed and never assured. These services are un
doubted, even if less unselfish than a Russian might be disposed to
contend. Whether they entitle her to a recompense that shall take
the form of a forcible seizure of the best provinces of Persia,
every individual is competent to judge for himself. Were such the
ethics of international relationship, well might the Shah re-echo
the plaintive protestation of the Trojan, c Timeo Danaos et dona
ferentes. 5
Such, then, are the designs of Russia upon Azerbaijan, Gilan,
Mazanderan, and Khorasan. But here again let me gmard myself by
saying that I do not rest these statements upon newspaper
avowals, or upon covert references or admissions alone.
With full knowledge of what I am writing, I make them
as statements of fact. If any Russian disputes my thesis, let me sug
gest that he should procure a glimpse of the famous secret scheme for
the invasion of India, drawn up by General Kuropatkin in 1885,
and understood to be the officially accepted outline of the next
Russian advance in Central Asia. I shall be surprised if he does
not there find the incorporation of Azerbaijan, Gilan, Mazanderan,
and Khorasan regarded as a primary object of Russian policy;
Khorasan, in particular, being regarded as an indispensable preli
minary acquisition to a movement upon Herat. It might be in
teresting also to inquire of the Shah how many times he has
actually been threatened by Russian diplomats at Teheran with the
forcible seizure of one or other of those provinces unless he proved
himself more immediately amenable to Russian desires.
But Russia’s appetite for territorial aggrandisement does not
stop here. Not content with a spoil that would rob Persia at one
An eye on sweep of the entire northern half of her dominions, she
the Gulf turns a longing eye southwards, and yearns for an outlet
upon the
Persian Gulf
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
and in the Indian Ocean. The movements
that I have previously sketched along the south and east borders
cf Khorasan, the activity of her agents in regions far beyond the
legitimate radius of an influence restricted to North Persia, her
tentative experiments in the direction of Seistan—are susceptible
of no other interpretation than a design to shake the influence of
Great Britain in South Persia, to dispute the control of the Indian
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 [868r] (1752/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x000099> [accessed 28 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