The concept of a bottom slip cut goes back to the early 18th century. In an Italian notebook known as the Asti Manuscript (c. 1700), the move is used in a trick with the translated title of “To have a card thought of and to send it, of various piles, into the one a person wants, and if it does not succeed, you have another pile cut, and at whatever place he cuts he finds his card.” This manuscript was translated by Dr. Lori Pieper in the Winter, 2013 issue of Gibecière (Vol. 8, No. 1).

The 20th century kicked the idea into gear, starting with “The Mystery of the Aces” by Charles Jordan in Four Full Hands of Down to the Minute Magical Effects (1922), and later in The Tarbell System (1926), titled “The 'Bottom' Card Control Clip cut”.

An application of the bottom slip cut, unfortunately without handling details, treated by Stanley Collins as common knowledge on p. 9 of his 1952 book Gems of Personal Prestigitation (not published until 2003 in Stanley Collins: Conjurer, Collector, and Iconoclast by Edwin A. Dawes). While oral tradition referred to this sleight being in use before Lorayne's HaLo cut (Rim Shots, 1973, p. 131), this is one of the first print references. Of course, the handling details may have differed, but there aren't that many practical approaches to this maneuver. Richard Kaufman writes that John Snyder developed the bottom slip cut, using a little-finger break and swing cut, in the 1940s. He gives no print reference for this. Kaufman also lays credit for the breakless handling at Derek Dingle's door (Genii, Vol. 67, No. 5, May 2004, p. 72).