By the way, if you're interested in the earliest commercial recordings, UC Santa Barbara has put a massive collection online for free listening.
Here is a curated collection of their rarest materials 1891-1898:
https://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/incunabula.php
Here is a curated collection of their rarest materials 1891-1898:
https://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/incunabula.php
Comments
And you can listen to this fine collection for free.
The internet is getting steadily worse but the one ray of light is archives and academia sharing their treasures.