The earliest list of commercially available transistors that I have found is shown below. Even more interesting is that fact that prices are included. I cannot rule out even older data but this information must certainly be very close to the beginning.

The July, 1953 issue of the trade publication Electronic Design included a compilation of commercially available transistors. As stated in the article, the list included "transistors which are in commercial production and generally available at this time. Transistors being produced for military consumption only, or those made for special users are not included."

Another interesting bit of information was that "Practically all units are available in plastic encapsulated form, some with metal cases as well. Several can be furnished in hermetically sealed cases, and one manufacturer (CBS Hytron) has announced a new evacuated junction transistor."

And lastly, "Quantities in which these transistors are available and prices of the units have not been included because these factors are rapidly changing as production problems are being solved."

Nine manufacturers were noted: CBS Hytron, General Electric, Germanium Products, Raytheon, RCA, Radio Receptor, Sylvania, Transistor Products, and Westinghouse.

Transistor types were equally split between the original Point Contact design and the subsequent Junction design. There were 18 devices of each variety, for a total of 36 transistors that one could purchase. Specifically:

JUNCTION TRANSISTORS
 

Manufacturer	Type No.	Class	Application
CBS Hytron	2N36 2N37 2N38	P-N-P P-N-P P-N-P	Amp. High Amp. Med Amp. Low
Germanium Products	RD-2517 RD-2520 RD-2525	N-P-N N-P-N N-P-N	Gen Purpose
Raytheon	CK721 CK722	P-N-P P-N-P
RCA	2N34 2N35	P-N-P N-P-N	Amp. Amp.
Radio Receptor	RR14 RR20 RR21 RR34	P-N-P P-N-P P-N-P P-N-P	Low Audio Low Audio Low Audio Low Audio
Sylvania	2N34	P-N-P	Amp.
Transistor Products	X-22 X-23	N-P-N N-P-N	Amp. Amp.
Westinghouse	WX4813	P-N-P	Amp.

POINT CONTACT TRANSISTORS
 

Manufacturer	Type No.	Application
CBS Hytron	PT-2A PT-2S	Amp. Switch
General Electric	G-11 G-11A	Amp., Osc. Switch
RCA	2N32 2N33	Switch Osc.
Radio Receptor	R1698 R1729 R1734	Switch Gen Purpose Switch
Sylvania	2N32	Switch
Transistor Products	2A 2B 2C 2D 2E 2F 2G	Amp., Osc. Amp., Osc. Switch Amp., Osc. Amp. Switch Switch
Westinghouse	WX3347	Gen Purpose

One manufacturer whose omission surprised me is National Union, a well established producer of electron tubes at the time. I have an NU type 18-B with a 328 date code (late July, 1953). NU products have been discovered by collectors in some early Sonotone transistor hearing aids so they were definitely a commercial supplier. A September, 1953 Electronics magazine ad (another trade publication) shows their 2N39 and 18-A as being in production. NU does appear in the July, 1954 Electronic Design Data Chart, so I have concluded that they must have just missed being a part of the 1953 chart.

It is also interesting to note that General Electric was only offering point contact devices at this time. Their first junction transistor, the 2N43, was reported in the September 12, 1953 issue of Business Week.

I am most grateful to Steve Scrupski for providing copies of several historic transistor documents from the archives of Electronic Design magazine.