I recently saw some work from the University of Kentucky on reading the Herculaneum scrolls. These scrolls were carbonized by volcanic activity (Pompeii?) and obviously can't be unrolled without disintegrating. They used some interesting CT (xray) scanning plus machine learning to distinguish the carbon-based ink from the mostly carbon substrate and retrieve legible text.

Of course, that only gets you the printed text. You might lose notes and doodles in the margins, or other physical evidence. But, it's certainly promising for works that are too delicate to physically open and inspect