Bottom-Block Cover Pass

The earliest known description of transposing two portions of the deck above a packet of cards, which remains in place so that the bottom card (or cards) does not change after the Pass, is in Der Zauberspiegel, Vol. 2 No. 1, Sep. 1896, p. 15. The article gives no credit for the sleight, nor are any handling details provided, but since the classic form of the Pass was described in an earlier issue of this journal, it is more likely that those mechanics were used rather than the mechanics of the Herrmann Pass.

Top-Card Cover Pass

The earliest known description of executing the transposition of two halves of the deck while keeping the top card or cards in place for cover or other reasons was mentioned in a letter from Clinton Burgess to Ellis Stanyon, published in the latter's journal Magic, Vol. 1 No. 3, Dec. 1900, p. 23. Burgess describes the idea as original with him.