Prompted by this question querying the prevalence of byte-addressable memory on machines with 32 bit registers: Why is every address in a micro-controller only 8 bits in size?
I'm familiar with the concept that the mass-market microprocessors from the 1970's were quite resource constrained with typically 8 or 16 bit registers, and maybe before then computers were closer to one-off designs rather than based on standardised architectures. Was there any 'typical' register size for early electronic computers, and what were the extremes of this range?
I'm assuming here that early computers did actually have identifiable general purpose registers as we recognise them today...