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The kind of paper is important. I've handled incunabula, printed books from before 1500. Maybe the paper is dirty from hundreds of years of handling, but the paper itself tends to be sturdy and supple. This continues up until the mid 1800s when new methods of paper making resulted in the presence of aluminum sulphate, which makes the paper turn brittle and yellow over time. It was sobering to see a volume of Description de l’Égypte (1809-1828) side by side with a volume of Monuments de l’Égypte et de la Nubie (1835–45). They're comparable works, elephant folios of plates illustrating Egyptian monuments. The former uses the older paper, the latter the newer paper. The newer volumes looked much older and the paper was brittle.

If you're printing something today that you want to last for hundreds of years, make sure you're using acid-free paper and archival-grade ink.