The N.E.D. furnishes English examples, 1593–1885. The phrase, however, is practically obsolete in England, though it retains a lingering hold in the U.S.
1853. Whether Colonel Rhoads ever paid three dollars for his jug of whiskey and deck (pack) of cards, I could not find out.—S. A. Hammett (‘Philip Paxton’), ‘A Stray Yankee in Texas,’ p. 197.
1858. I was so kind as always to have a deck about me for the use of my friends.—Yale Lit. Mag., xxiii. 182 (April).
