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Following his election to Parliament, George Nathaniel Curzon (1859–1925) embarked on extensive travels and research in Asia, spending several months in Persia in 1889–90. Later viceroy of India, Curzon believed that growing Russian influence in Asia threatened Britain's interests, and that Persia was an important buffer state. Highly regarded upon publication in 1892, this illustrated two-volume work is a mix of history, geography, travel narrative, and social and political analysis. Intended to educate readers at home as to Persia's strategic significance, the work reflects its author's staunch support for British imperialism. Volume 1 describes Curzon's journey to Tehran, offering observations on the situation in the provinces which bordered Russian-controlled territory. Curzon then gives an overview of Persian institutions, including the monarchy, government, and the army. His Problems of the Far East (1894) is also reissued in this series.
Following his election to Parliament and extensive travels through Asia, George Nathaniel Curzon (1859–1925) published in 1894 this consideration of the present state of Japan, Korea and China within a changing international landscape. Later viceroy of India, Curzon was fascinated by the rich cultural heritage of the Far East, yet he remained a staunch supporter of British imperialism. He explains that the book's purpose is to delve deeper into political, social and economic conditions, rather than present a travel narrative of 'temples, tea-houses and bric-à-brac'. After devoting a substantial section to each country, Curzon closes with 'The Prospect', exploring what he envisages for the future of the whole region. The favourable reception of this title and his 1892 work, Persia and the Persian Question (also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection), highlighted Curzon's diligently acquired knowledge of Asian affairs and how they affected Britain's imperial interests.
On the whole an undistinguished family, the Curzons of Keddleston Hall, an imposing eighteenth-century mansion in Derbyshire, traced their aristocratic lineage back to the Norman Conquest. George Curzon was however considered exceptional by his prep school headmaster and he lived up to his early promise at Eton and Balliol (though unaccountably he left Oxford without a first class degree). Already tipped for high office he made the tour of Greece and the Holy Land in 1883, then four years later, between 1887 and 1894, started a series of journeys, one round the world, and all taking in the East. Curzon had been from his schooldays an ardent imperialist and these travels had a political purpose. In 1891 he was briefly under-secretary at the India Office in Salisbury's short-lived government. At the same period the aspiring politician was busy writing letters to the Times about Britain's foreign policy in the East. There followed three books each mixing travel narration with observations on the political and strategic issues raised by the different areas through which the author had travelled. Both Russia in Central Asia (1889) and Persia and the Persian Question (1892) focus on the ‘Great Game’, or Britain and Russia's clash of interests in the East with the defence of India the core concern. Problems of the Far East (1894) surveyed Britain's possessions in the Far East and the growing threat of Japan.