Die New York Times erklärt unter dem Titel «For Rare Book Librarians, It’s Gloves Off. Seriously», weshalb es am besten ist, wertvolle Bücher vorsichtig mit sauberen Fingern anzufassen (via Archivalia):
«To (politely) sum up the current consensus: Gloves reduce your sense of touch, increasing the likelihood that you might accidentally tear a page, smear pigments, dislodge loose fragments — or worse, drop the book.
And whatever their associations with cleanliness, cotton gloves attract dirt. They also tend to make hands sweat, generating moisture that can damage a page. Rubber gloves, while moisture-proof and generally better fitted to the hand, are too grabby. (…)
“The best way to handle a rare book,” said Mark Dimunation, the longtime head of the rare books and special collections division at the Library of Congress, “is with clean hands and caution.”»