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This concept appears to have been reinvented many times over the years. In an exposé of cheating techniques (in other words, he makes no claim of originality), Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin describes the idea of opening the pack with only the little finger. This is described in a peeking technique within Les Trickeries des Grecs Dévoilées (1861).
Laurie Ireland later redeveloped the idea in Ireland's New Card and Coin Manipulation 1935, p. 9, where it is used in the context of a false count for “Six-card Repeat”. This count employs the mechanics of the push-off double lift, published by Marlo in Off the Top, 1945, p. 7, in the context of both a one-handed turnover, and two-handed variant; Vernon attempted to claim the same move over twenty years later in Dai Vernon's Ultimate Secrets of Card Magic, 1967, p. 54. The procedure is essentially the same, it being applied to two cards by Marlo and Vernon, while Ireland pushed over a larger block. The sleight credit should go to Ireland here. It is this procedure that Ireland focuses on, and he makes no claim of originality for the pull-down.
There is evidence to suggest that others had worked on the idea between Robert-Houdin and Ireland, and possibly before: