We have 3 versions of The Joy of Cooking on our bookshelf, a hardback from about 1982, a softback copy from 1976, and a reprint of an old version, which may have the oppossum recipe in it.
The paperback version of the Joy of Cooking is really beat up, but has a delicious whole wheat bread recipe in it. But it doesn't have a fudge recipe I used to make all the time, and so often that I didn't need the recipe. That's why we bought the reprint of the old version. I once saw an original older version at a used bookstore, but they wanted $40.00 for it, and thought that was too much for a fudge recipe
They're great cookbooks for classic recipes. I like to dabble in new recipes made with different ingredients too, and use these books as a reference for getting started.