> >The oldest written receipe for cheesecake comes from the work of Martino
> >de' Rossi (d. c. 1468). It first appeared in publshed form in Platina's
> ><De honeste voluptate> (Rome, 1470; Venice, 1470). Its next appearance was
> >in Giovanni Rosselli's <Epulario> (Venice, 1517, English trans. from the
> >1579 ed., 1598).
> >
> >--
> > Regards, Frank Young
> > 703-527-7684
> > Post Office Box 2793, Kensington, Maryland 20891
> > "Videmus nunc per speculum in aenigmate... Nunc cognosco ex parte"

That's pretty good. Surely, though, cheesecake is older.

(OED)
1. a. A cake or tart of light pastry, orig. containing cheese; now
filled with a yellow butter-like compound of milk-curds, sugar, and
butter, or a preparation of whipped egg and sugar.

c1440 Promp. Parv. 73 Chesekake, ortacius. 1530 PALSGR. 204/2 Chese
cake, gasteav, torteav. 1588 Marprel. Epist. (Arb.) 40 The dogg flies
at the B[ishop] and took of his corner capp (he thought belike it had
bene a cheese cake). 1611 COTGR., Talmouse, a Cheese-cake; a Tart made
of egges, and cheese. 1667 PEPYS Diary 11 Aug., We..eat some of the
best cheese-cakes that ever I eat in my life. 1708 MOTTEUX Rabelais
IV. xxx. (1737) 125 Like three corner'd Cheese-Cakes. 1796 H. GLASSE
Cookery xxi. 318 This we call saffron cheesecakes; the other, without
currants, almond cheesecakes. 1853 A. SOYER Pantroph. 292 A sort of
cheese-cake, made of cheese, eggs, and butter.

http://inventors.about.com/library/i...cheesecake.htm
The History of Cheesecake
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Mary Bellis
Cheesecake is believed to have originated in ancient Greece. History
has the first recorded mention of cheesecake, as being served to the
athletes during the first Olympic Games held in 776 B.C. However,
cheese making can be traced back as far as 2,000 B.C., anthropologists
have found cheese molds dating back to that period. The Romans spread
cheesecake from Greece to across Europe. Centuries later cheesecake
appeared in America, the recipes brought over by immigrants. In 1872,
cream cheese was invented by American dairymen, who were trying to
recreate the French cheese, Neufchtel. James L. Kraft invented
pasteurized cheese in 1912, and that lead to the development of
pasteurized Philadelphia cream cheese, the most popular cheese used
for making cheesecake today.

http://www.gti.net/mocolib1/kid/food...tml#cheesecake
A sampler of cheesecake recipes through the ages:

[1st century AD] Sweet Libum, Cato
[1390:London] Tart de Bry, Forme of Cury
[1545:London] To Make a Tarte of Chese, Proper newe Booke of Cookery
[1669: London] To Make Cheese-Cakes, Closet of The Eminently Leaned
Sir Kenelme Digbie Opened
[1720s:London] Chees Cakes, Receipts of Pastry and Cookery For Use of
His Scholars, Ed. Kidder
[1803:New York] Cheesecakes after the best manner, Frugal Housewife,
Susannah Carter (keep paging for more recipes)
[1866:Philadephia] Orange, Lemon, Curd & Cottage-Cheese cakes,
National Cook Book, Hannah Mary Bouvier Peterson (recipes p.123-5)
Need more details? Ask your librarian to help you obtain the following
books:

Cheesecake, Lou Pappas, 1993
Cheesecake Extraordinare, Mary Crownower, 1994
Joy of Cheesecake, Dana Boubjerg & Jeremy Iggers, 1980