Dai Vernon's “Brain Wave Deck” was originally published in The Jinx, No. 49, Oct. 1938, p. 341. In Vernon’s original effect (created in 1930), a named card was shown reversed in the deck. Vernon credited Paul Fox with the idea of the odd-backed revelation.

Karl Fulves A History of the Brainwave Principle (1983) offers a fascinating detailed look at how this effect evolved.