Welcome to the Jan and Cora Gordon pages .
This website, is dedicated solely to perpetuating and recording the life and works both artistic and literary of a truly remarkable couple who, between the years 1919 and 1940, were something of a publishing phenomenon, writing a long series of unconventional travel books which described their travels around Europe and the USA in a style uniquely their own. Eschewing the conventional impressions of the traditional traveller they recorded in some detail the everyday lives of the folk they met, always with kindness and understated humour.
This website is the result of one persons obsession with gathering as much material about them as possible over a period of almost 40 years. It has resulted in a huge amount of archive material that is the only source of primary research solely about Jan and Cora Gordon on the net or anywhere. I hold on my bookshelves the most complete set of their published and unpublished writings to be found anywhere, as well as a fine collection of original artworks which can be appreciated by viewing the 'art of...' box on the drop down menu, above, see'MORE'
The copyright to the Gordon books now remains, after some recent renegotiation , with myself until 2025, thanks to the family who have been especially kind in sharing material, . Over almost 40 years everyone I have interviewed about the Gordons has remembered them with kindness and affection and have passed on their memories in the same way. I am ever grateful and I thank them all, even the ones I have lost touch with, but especially those who are no longer with us.
A necessary word re copyright of the numerous illustrations on this website.
copyrights to photos here are generally acknowledged when they are from an outside source, such as the BBC or museums. I have photographed with permission every Gordon artwork I have found; while the copyrights to original photos remain with their owners the copyright to the photos of photos or of artwork taken by permission are mine.
This website, is dedicated solely to perpetuating and recording the life and works both artistic and literary of a truly remarkable couple who, between the years 1919 and 1940, were something of a publishing phenomenon, writing a long series of unconventional travel books which described their travels around Europe and the USA in a style uniquely their own. Eschewing the conventional impressions of the traditional traveller they recorded in some detail the everyday lives of the folk they met, always with kindness and understated humour.
This website is the result of one persons obsession with gathering as much material about them as possible over a period of almost 40 years. It has resulted in a huge amount of archive material that is the only source of primary research solely about Jan and Cora Gordon on the net or anywhere. I hold on my bookshelves the most complete set of their published and unpublished writings to be found anywhere, as well as a fine collection of original artworks which can be appreciated by viewing the 'art of...' box on the drop down menu, above, see'MORE'
The copyright to the Gordon books now remains, after some recent renegotiation , with myself until 2025, thanks to the family who have been especially kind in sharing material, . Over almost 40 years everyone I have interviewed about the Gordons has remembered them with kindness and affection and have passed on their memories in the same way. I am ever grateful and I thank them all, even the ones I have lost touch with, but especially those who are no longer with us.
A necessary word re copyright of the numerous illustrations on this website.
copyrights to photos here are generally acknowledged when they are from an outside source, such as the BBC or museums. I have photographed with permission every Gordon artwork I have found; while the copyrights to original photos remain with their owners the copyright to the photos of photos or of artwork taken by permission are mine.
The Balkan Freebooter, Jan Gordons record of an amazing man and his story that he met in Serbia 1915. Now translated into Serbian.
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The Gordons' work is currently enjoying a revival of interest and appreciation among the Balkan countries; now , in April 2016 100 years after it was written Aleksander Tesic in Serbia has translated and is republishing "The Balkan Freebooter" , and more intriguingly is searching for the family of the main character, Nikola Pavlovitch. That would be a find; also being mooted from the same publisher is a new and updated version of the "Luck of Thirteen" more on that later. Hopefully.
It remains a constant puzzle to me why this remarkable couple cannot apparently regain their rightful place in literature in their home country. Interest in their work comes from as far afield as New Zealand, and the USA, yet in this country I seem to up against a brick wall as regards trying to interest the media .
Summer, 2015, provided two rather special projects with which I have been honoured to collaborate; firstly Mr Edgar Frasheri of the Rotary Club of Tirana Albania, who was introduced to "Two Vagabonds in Albania" by his father, has translated into Albanian, the entire text of that book. This was no mean feat even for a fluent English speaker such as Mr Frasheri , the task took him many years to complete under difficult circumstances. Mr Frasheri undertook this task under his own steam, without any backing and at his own expense, purely out of love for his native country and because he appreciates the record the Gordons left about what was at the time the then fledgling country of Albania.
Secondly, a rather lovely and beautiful book was published in Spain by Primera Edicion. "Viajeras extranjeras en Castilla la Vieja y León , 1900–1935" (Foreign Lady Travellers in Old Castile and Leon) is a collection of travel writings by women writers about their journeys in Spain between those dates, in fact Jan Gordon is the only male to be included, albeit as an appendage to Cora!.
This now means that recognition of the qualities of the Gordons' writing has increased enough for them to be considered worthy of translation into French,Spanish and Albanian, and Serbian by natives of those countries who appreciate and value the records the couple left of customs and events in those countries that few other folk thought worthy of documenting at the time. The Gordons' books are rightly regarded in those countries as precious historical records.
site edit 26/2/17, and a sorely needed text tidy up. [well, parts of it.]
Last picture find of 2015 is this super gouache by Jan, found in the Portobello road of all places just yards from their old home; It's now gone to New Zealand. A quick bit of detective work establishes it as being the bowling green in Hyde Park.Where the barrage balloon is is now the tennis courts.
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Best find of 2016 so far is this portrait by Cora. Now identified as Cicely Emily Parr nee Shaw, wife of Sir Robert Parr KBE CMG who served with the British Military Mission to Serbia 1914-18. So Serbia would appear to be the connection with the Gordons.
oil on canvas on board, a rare oil portrait by Cora which I am very pleased to have aquired.
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Here is a cracker of a Painting by Cora, Spanish Entrada, it is a variation of the Frontispiece to their first Spanish book "Poor Folk in Spain".
Confirmed as being typically Murcian in aspect. It would date from 1920.
Hovering over MORE on the blue navigation bar above will open up a series of pages about the Gordon lives which is constantly being revised or added to, .
But first a little look at their Paris studio off the Rue Cherche Midi Paris 75006 where they lived from about 1913 to 1932
Most pictures on this site will enlarge if clicked on, I hope readers will gain as much enjoyment of the Gordons work as I have, their books are still to be found , and Two Vagabonds in Languedoc, arguably their finest book, was reprinted in 2007 by Benefactum Press with a preface and preamble by myself... K J Bryant,Wiltshire,UK.
But first a little look at their Paris studio off the Rue Cherche Midi Paris 75006 where they lived from about 1913 to 1932
Most pictures on this site will enlarge if clicked on, I hope readers will gain as much enjoyment of the Gordons work as I have, their books are still to be found , and Two Vagabonds in Languedoc, arguably their finest book, was reprinted in 2007 by Benefactum Press with a preface and preamble by myself... K J Bryant,Wiltshire,UK.
Next are a couple of photos of Jan and Cora in their Paris studio tucked away in a alley off the Rue Cherche Midi, Paris 75006. Once the stables of the Parisian omnibus horses but converted into artists studios by the mistress of a politician as her nest egg. In their time these studios hosted some famous names, at least before they achieved success. Jan and Cora moved into them around 1912/3 as far as I can ascertain, and lived there very contentedly in quite primitive conditions until 1931. The primitive toilets, a la turque, are still there, albeit used as storage sheds, and must have required some nerve for the Gordons visitors to use; and only oil lamps and a communal water tap for the 6 studios in their alley.
In 1944 their studio received a direct hit from a shell or small bomb and was destroyed. As part of a set of historic buildings it was rebuilt on the same plan but set further back to comply with building regulations.
Other than that they are exactly as Jan and Cora knew them and the present owner [2002]was kind enough to invite me in for tea, taken on this exact spot but sadly half a century too late to share with Jan and Cora.
If you wish to visit them you'll have to do as I did, a a little detective work!
The studios are well described in 'On a Paris Roundabout' and again in part in 'The London Roundabout'.
These photos date from 1923/4 and the right hand one was used for their 1927/28 USA lecture tour brochure.
For me they are a mine of information; above, Cora is holding a Vielle d'Auvergne mentioned in both Paris Roundabout and London Roundabout ...the two large paintings are by Jan and are of Spain (location unknown) the two small ones on the wall are of Najac; the top one is a smaller version of one shown in Cora's art page, the smaller one is of the place of Najac...She is sitting on striped horse rugs, probably ones they managed to save from Serbia 1915, or from their 1922 Balkan trip..even the parquet floor gets a mention in one of Jan's short stories.
On the right we are seeing more of their 'museum of the worthless' ....the vielle is on its place on the stairs and Jan and Cora are playing their Spanish instruments, Cora is wearing one of her shawls from Spain, behind Jan is the ancient Walnut oil jar,given to them by Monsieur Tressol in Najac and the large inch thick pottery dish , decorated as Cora described, "... with blue and green rhythms, ...a cat recumbent..." that was given to them by La Merchora in Murcia 1920.
I wonder where that dish is now? I know it was recorded in their London flat after 1932.
The lute, the guitar and the Vielle are now in the iceberg of a storeroom of the Horniman Museum, South London, where, I am sad to say they have been badly neglected, at least when I last saw them in the mid 1980s.
The inset woodcut at right is from
'On a Paris Roundabout'.
For me they are a mine of information; above, Cora is holding a Vielle d'Auvergne mentioned in both Paris Roundabout and London Roundabout ...the two large paintings are by Jan and are of Spain (location unknown) the two small ones on the wall are of Najac; the top one is a smaller version of one shown in Cora's art page, the smaller one is of the place of Najac...She is sitting on striped horse rugs, probably ones they managed to save from Serbia 1915, or from their 1922 Balkan trip..even the parquet floor gets a mention in one of Jan's short stories.
On the right we are seeing more of their 'museum of the worthless' ....the vielle is on its place on the stairs and Jan and Cora are playing their Spanish instruments, Cora is wearing one of her shawls from Spain, behind Jan is the ancient Walnut oil jar,given to them by Monsieur Tressol in Najac and the large inch thick pottery dish , decorated as Cora described, "... with blue and green rhythms, ...a cat recumbent..." that was given to them by La Merchora in Murcia 1920.
I wonder where that dish is now? I know it was recorded in their London flat after 1932.
The lute, the guitar and the Vielle are now in the iceberg of a storeroom of the Horniman Museum, South London, where, I am sad to say they have been badly neglected, at least when I last saw them in the mid 1980s.
The inset woodcut at right is from
'On a Paris Roundabout'.
On the following pages accessed via the drop down bar above, MORE, there follows much much more ..........
If you have any information about the Gordons, I would be very glad to hear from you, or even talk about them if you wish to know more via the contact link in the drop down or http://www.janandcoragordon.co.uk/-contact-janandcoragordon.html
If you have any information about the Gordons, I would be very glad to hear from you, or even talk about them if you wish to know more via the contact link in the drop down or http://www.janandcoragordon.co.uk/-contact-janandcoragordon.html
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