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 Conradi's 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 the classic form of the Pass is referenced in the description, so its mechanics were most likely used, rather than those of the Herrmann Pass. Here is a translation of the description (note that a double-faced card is at the bottom of the deck, the sleight being embedded within the procedure of a trick): “Since with the normal Pass (see volume 1, issue 1) the double-facer would become visible, one has to execute the pass in this trick in such a way that the deck is divided into three parts, and the center packet is moved to the top (see figures 18 and 19).”

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.