The earliest known recipe for the present-day croissant is dated to 1905. This date refers to a recipe resembling the modern laminated pastry, not every earlier crescent-shaped bread or pastry called a croissant.
The name itself appeared earlier. A French reference from 1853 listed croissants among “fantasy or luxury breads,” and nineteenth-century sources describe croissant-like foods. Those earlier items could differ substantially in ingredients, texture, and preparation from the flaky, yeast-raised pastry familiar today.
The transition to the modern croissant involved laminated dough, in which butter is enclosed, rolled, and folded into repeated layers. Another important milestone followed in 1906, when Auguste Colombié published a recipe corresponding closely to the modern croissant’s shape, texture, and taste. Sylvain Claudius Goy later published a related recipe in 1915.
Thus, 1905 is best understood as the date given for the earliest known recipe of the present-day type. It is not the date of the croissant’s first appearance in any form.