Pulling apart stuff is a long-established rule. Pierce Egan's
Boxiana books from the first part of the 19th century included copper plate engravings of notable boxers. They have been broken down for the engravings for a long time. The engravings are rag paper and do not suffer the same acid damage that pulp paper does; the book bindings are organic glues and often deteriorate first. This is an engraving of HOFer Dick Curtis from the 1820 original edition:
Pretty nice for 200 years old.
In 1840 Egan issued a compilation volume of prints, entitled
Boxiana or Sketches of Ancient & Modern Pugilism. I bought and pulled apart a wrecked 1840 edition to get my collection of HOFers with no contemporaneous cards and photos from their careers.
