Babil and Bijou (1872): a photograph at last!

In the nearly half a century that I have been involved with the history of the musical theatre I have dug up, collected, and handed on, vast amounts of photographs, music, scripts and other ephemera relating to, in particular, the British musical theatre.

One show which interested me perversely was the 1872 Babil and Bijou, a Covent Garden attempt to out-spectacularise the great French opéras-bouffes-féeries of the times. It had everything money (Lord Londesborough's, as it happened) could be wasted on in the way of scenery and over-casting and it had some big names attached to it -- Dion Boucicult, J R Planché, Mrs Howard Paul, Mrs Billington, Lionel Brough, the rising juveniles Joseph Maas and Annie Sinclair -- and, after a forced run, it lost a fortune. 

It produced, however, some colourful music sheets, depicting scenes from the show: most notably the highlight of the night Rivière's little chorus of trebles 'Spring, Gentle Spring'

There were programmes and playbills by the dozen in my boxes, and other ephemera ... 

but ... not one photograph.

Well, today one floated across the blue skies of ebay. At first glance, it was wrongly labelled ('Miss Victoria Vokins'), but I wasn't fooled! Oh no! That costume ... Julia Vokins, the takeover of the little role of the Queen of the Bees ...

A closer look at the second layer of handwriting confirmed my idea ... in pencil 'Babil and Bijou'. 

So where did this treasure surface? Why, in Melbourne, Australia. Thank you Douglas Stewart Fine Books ...

VOKINS, Julia (b Lambeth 3 November 1854; d Chelsea 24 February 1933). Daughter of a musician, Henry Vokins and his wife, Eliza, Julia spent her whole working life on the stage; at first in roles combining singing with an enviable plastique (La Vie Parisienne in London, Babil and Bijou, Ixion Re-wheeled, Les Brigands) and later in comedy with such as Charles Wynham and Henry Neville. She played in pantomime at Covent Garden, in burlesque at the Opera Comique ...

PS here is an earlyish photo of 'Helen Barry' (SHORT, Elizabeth) unfortunately not in costume as the Princess Fortinbrasse ..

 And of course, Li Brough, likewise not in costume