That first cleaning is - literally - dry cleaning. Because a technique that involves water cannot be used before the paper is as clean as possible. Otherwise the water will transport dirt into the paper, creating discolored rings and you will not be able to get that out again.
Dry rubbing it is, therefore. 19 January 2011 restoration-specialist-in-training Judith Geerts starts with the first sheet of the the first volume of the Atlas. These are her weapons:
Brush..
.. Sponge..
.. Eraser!
No ordinary eraser, of course. Only the Alleen Magic Rub will do.
Go:
Sheet 1 of Volume 1. Eerst brush the dirt off, working from the inside out.
Next: Sweep of rub the paper with bits of sponge. It is made of soot sponge, of vulcanized rubber. If a bit gets too dirty on all sides, you cut off a new bit of the big sponge.
Effective
What is on the sponge now, came from the piece between the two green arrows. If you click on the picture for an enlargement, you can see it's a lot cleaner than the paper that hasn't been treated.
Finally, it's the turn of the Magic rub to remove clear stains, or see if they are removable. If not, they will stay.
One rubs around the penciled notes of librarians of yore.
And so it goes on - sheet after sheet. Volume after volume. If you are lucky, you can see the work being done in the basement of the Special Collections building of UvA...
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