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I'm a martial arts instructor and a language teacher and I do not believe that you NEED an instructor to learn anything. With all due respect to the martial arts community, the strict adherence to the notion that you can't practice martial arts without a teacher is one that hurts the development of the arts, and stunts the growth of your own training. If you want to practice on your own do it! Who cares if your not doing it the way most other people do, especially in Iai which you will never realistically expect to use to defend yourself. Become a sponge of information, read everything you can get your hands on. Watch thousands of youtube videos of Iaido. Study the movements and mimic them, notice the subtlety, constantly reevaluate how it feels to how it looks. It's not too dissimilar to figuring out how to produce the accent of another language. You already possess all the tools necessary to produce them you just need to figure it out by trial, error, and constant self revision.

There are a ton of autodidacts out there. Become one. Here's a list of them. Notable self taught people include, Abraham Lincoln, Steve Erwin, Ernest Hemingway, and Frank Zappa. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_autodidacts

A teacher can help you get better much faster but the moment you think you NEED a teacher is the moment you become myopic to the goal of training: Self Improvement. A teacher is merely a guide for you to learn. If you think a teacher disseminating information is the most important thing to improvement then you have missed the point of the adage, "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink." Students who's minds are closed cannot be taught no matter how good the teacher is. The learning is what is important, not the teaching. Meditate on this. It applies to all aspects of life. In short, speak less, listen more. Now I will follow my own advice and actually answer your question.

This is a pretty good book with descriptions of many aspects of Iai, including detailed step by step explanations of Seitei Iai and his koryu, Muso Shinden Ryu. Not perfect but, it's certainly a great start
http://www.amazon.com/Iaido-Sword-Kamimoto-Ha-Techniques-Shinden/dp/1581605730#

PM me and I'll send you my research on an iaido document I translated last year that you will find useful in your training.

While it's a bit biased for me to recommend it, one of the teachers associated with my school has actually authored a decent text about Japanese swords: if I'm not mistaken, there is a section devoted specifically to their metallurgy.
Here's a link if you're interested:

https://www.amazon.com/Analysis-Iai-Katana-Jon-Andresen/dp/1523962089/ref=nodl_

The McDavid brand has excellent pads Link. Light and soft (so you can actually sit in seiza) and the tiny hexagon structure avoids material from going to the sides over time.

I bought it in Poland years ago so I'm afraid not. Its a bit like this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0145BNUUG/ref=mp_s_a_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1526077776&sr=8-10&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=shotgun+bag&dpPl=1&dpID=41LhZAVU4uL&ref=plSrch
Avoid the padded ones because there's less space inside.

I started with a dojo loaner until I managed to buy a CAS Practical Iaito a few months into it. No real complaints, but the wrapping starts to get loose after a year into it, and the Kurikata (where the cord ties into the Saya) broke off and had to be reglued.