Re: First copy of the Qur'an
Answer to the original question:
Musaylamah was an imposter who called himself a nabee, eventually there was a battle between him and Abou Bakr. The Muslims won, but many lives were lost.
After the battle, Umar went and told Abou Bakr, that many hafiz were lost, and the Quran should be put down on paper - into one complete book, for fear that more hafiz might die, and portions of the Quran might be lost. Abou Bakr was hesitant, since it had not been done so in the Prophet (SAW) 's time. But Umar pressed him until he agreed. So Zayd ibn Thalib was sent for, because he had been asked by the Prophet (SAW) with the writing of the Quran during his life time. When asked however, he was also outraged at first, but eventually it dawned on him that the Quran needed to be written down into one complete book.
Zayd was very particular. He would only accept parchments which were written down during th Prophet's (SAW) time. He double checked these by people who had memorized the Quran by heart. Ubayy ibn Ka'b assisted him.
I'll read (and maybe respond) to the side tracked comments later.