Starting with the leather bound cover, it immediately becomes apparent that the journal has a more complex closure than a regular one. It features a double fold with a leather tag conjoining the two sides folded over the scripture. Upon examination of the the the papers inside, it's easy to see that the journal was used for multiple purposes besides journal keeping. Included in the pages are anything from contacts, to places and ideas for new texts. Christ, and the religion of Christianity is brought up several times, which would lead to the assumption he was a believer in the faith of Christianity. There also appears to be some sort of running commentary with an imaginary person, and also some sort of seal or stamp.
Finally, comes the paper itself. It looks to be of a higher quality most likely of British origin; based upon the grain and the yellowing of the pages (color was most likely a cream color originally) it can be determined that the journal was most likely manufactured in the mid 1800s.
Part 2:
Well, I was right about the whole contact thing...and about him using the journal to plan out potential texts. However, I did not realize the seal was a congressional mark, which I found to be of interest. I also had no idea that Walt Whitman had something of a man-crush on Abraham Lincoln (I originally thought it was just an imaginary person, tuns out it was Lincoln), or that he created his own religion, now THAT is something to tell at a cocktail party.
The next fact of interest was his use of the spanish word "Libertard," meaning liberty in English. Why he chose to use a Spanish word? Absolutely no idea. And apparently, the source had no idea either. I did not mention anything about libertard during my original analysis, but I just thought it was an extremely interesting choice.
Finally, my analysis of the journal itself. The journal was indeed leather bound, though there was no specific mention of the paper's origin, it would appear the journal was manufactured during the mid 1800s.
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