The Double Deal as method to give the dealer extra cards in a card game was described in Jonathan Harrington Green's An Exposure of the Arts and Miseries of Gambling, 1843, p. 27.
An early double deal from the top and bottom of a packet is described by Howard P. Albright in his Kard Kapers, 1934, p. 4. In this handling, the cards are drawn forward off the front end of the packet. This predates the publication of Jack Merlin's double deal in Expert Card Technique, 1940, p. 27, although in Hugard and Braue's description he is said to have suppressed it when compiling his …and a Pack of Cards (1927-1928).