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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [885r] (1786/1814)
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.
BRITISH AND RUSSIAN POLICY IN PERSIA 631
peans. The Persians are a suspicious people, strangely deficient
in patriotism themselves, and inclined therefore to mistake interest
for self-interest in others, and to see a cloven hoof beneath the
skirts of every robe. Rome was not built in a day, and Persia will
not be reformed in a decade; but if the physician will be long-
suffering, the patient will in time become amenable, provided
always that a rival practitioner from a Northern establishment
does not insist upon tearing up his prescription.
I derive similar omens from an inspection of what has already
been accomplished. In previous chapters I have quoted passages
showing what was the state of affairs when the present
TSy 8 Shah came to the throne, and how dismal the forebodings
made framed by competent authorities as to the futuie. -^fy
pages have demonstrated the falsity of many of those predictions ,
and if, during the past half-century, the bulk of which period must
be classified under the old regime, so marked and visible a pro
gress has been made, both in public security, in consolidation of^
the royal power, and in the somewhat tentative introduction of
reform, we may, now that the country is on the threshold of a new
era, look for swifter advance and for more durable results. Already
the electric telegraph, regular posts, European banks, the small
beginnings of a railway system, and the employment on a large
scale of foreign capital for the exploitation of the national resources,
have been introduced. The Persians are sufficiently clever to know
that they cannot for ever stop here. Among their rulers are many
enlightened men who deplore the condition and who recognise the
needs of their country. In the course of my travels I enjoyed
interviews with some dozen of the leading statesmen of Persia, and
found in many of them a sincere desire for improvement, handi
capped by a sense of powerlessness against the abuses which have
fastened their coils around the nation, and which it requires stronger
men than some of them are to shake off. The sovereign, however,
has done much for reform—more certainly than any Persian
monarch since Kerim Khan—and, if he dared, would probably do
more. It is among the misfortunes, incidental to an Oriental
system, that we are still almost entirely in the dark as to the recep
tion which his policy—on the whole a creditable and praiseworthy
policy—will meet with from his successoi.
Nevertheless, whatever be our doubts or fears m this respect,
nothing I am sure is to be gained by an attitude that is likely to
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 [885r] (1786/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213850.0x0000bb> [accessed 18 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