The use of a double-backed card appeared in R.P's Ein Spiel Karten, 1853, p. 68 of the Pieper translation. It was used as a gag, rather than a magic trick. However, Johann Hofzinser was known to use this gaffed card for magical uses in the mid-1800s (see Domination of Thought: Second Method in Ottokar Fischer's Kartenkünste , 1910, p. 85 of the Sharpe translation).