I have the flip book and some of the other stuff that came with early copies of Virgin Fugs.
I talked to Stollman on a few occasions. The first time he was walking around the WFMU record fair with a hand-drawn sign "looking for Blind Willie McTell records", which I happened to have.
Last year I was talking to him about renting some retail space. He was difficult to negotiate with, changing terms and trying to get commitments from me to work on his business while being vague on compensation. At one point he made a joke along the lines of 'you'll regret you did business with me', which was the kind of thing Huey Meaux would say to his artists before they signed his contract. I kept my distance after that.
I agree ESP-Disk released so much great music, and it lived up to its motto "the artists alone decide what you will hear." The aesthetics of the covers are often incredible, and certainly inspired many DIY companies that followed.
