The collecting bug bit early. If you were an aficionado and knew the catalogue numbers of the recordings you wanted, you could order special pressings of old sessions. Some fan of the nineteenth-century soprano Nellie Melba (yes, the inspiration for peach Melba and Melba toast) evidently did this in the 1940s, purchasing an expensive made-to-order pressing of a test recording she'd done to determine her optimum distance from the recording horn.