Allan Jordon was born in 1898 in Elsternwick, the son of Sandhurst-born customs agent James Oliver Jordan and Maud Ethel (née Alleyne) who married in 1897.

Living in Malvern, Jordan's interest at age sixteen was in amateur photography, on the subject of which he contributed three articles, with concise diagrams, to The Australasian Photo-Review, one in the 15 January 1916 edition about making "Photographic Bookplates,"[1] another on building a home darkroom in a bathroom,[2] and one instructing how to use a camera as a solar enlarger.

[12][13] Other designs he created for Hawthorn Press, Melbourne in the 1940s included a series of paperback booklets printed on lesser-quality wartime paper and sold at 1 shilling and sixpence, which were written by Frank Clune, each dealing with some aspect of Australian history,[14][15] such as his 1944 Stories of Central Australia.

[16][17] Jordan joined artists Neville Barnett, Roy Davies, Adrian Feint, Lionel Lindsay and Philip Litchfield in a revival of the bookplate before World War Two.

[18] His Ex Libris bookplates often employ intricate rebuses to characterise their owners,[19] and such is the case with that he created for World War Two hero Russell Francis Wright MBE (1920–2012).

[34][35] He was cremated at Springvale Cemetery, survived by his only child, a daughter from his marriage with Elsie; trained nurse Marie Elspeth Wright who had been educated at Fintona Girls' School.