What does "Now you see me, now you don't," mean, and where did it originate?

In several works, I saw a character use the phrase "Now you see me, (beat) now you don't". I think I also remember a character using just "Now you see me" and then disappearing.

The Wikipedia disambiguation page, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Now_You_See_Me, says that many works have adopted the phrase but doesn't say what it means or at least originally meant.

So,

• is there a known source that first use the phrase?
• what did it mean in the first sources that used it? it feels like it's become so common that some of the current uses are variations or subversions

As commented, the phrase is used to express that something is gone without clear explanation. You may be interested in reading about "Abracadabra" and its history, which is close to this phrase to some extend. The phrase also refers to someone making something (or themselves) go away magically, out of a sudden and without vivid explanation.