diff --git a/tablib/formats/_html.py b/tablib/formats/_html.py
index 655e74c5..0ce0b5c3 100644
--- a/tablib/formats/_html.py
+++ b/tablib/formats/_html.py
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 else:
     from cStringIO import StringIO
     from tablib.packages import markup
+import bs4
 
 import tablib
 from tablib.compat import unicode
@@ -68,3 +69,25 @@ def export_book(databook):
         wrapper.write('\n')
 
     return stream.getvalue().decode('utf-8')
+
+
+def import_set(dset, in_stream, **kwargs):
+    dset.wipe()
+    text = in_stream.read()
+    tables = bs4.BeautifulSoup(markup=text).find_all('table')
+    if len(tables) != 1:
+        raise ValueError('Expected 1 table, found %s' % len(tables))
+    table = tables[0]
+
+    if table.thead.tr:
+        dset.headers = [
+            x.string for x in table.thead.tr.find_all('th', recursive=False)]
+
+    # this finds rows inside <thead>, <tfoot>, <tbody> also.
+    for i, row in enumerate(table.find_all('tr')):
+        # skip first row if it was used for the headers
+        if i == 0 and dset.headers:
+            continue
+        dset.append(
+            [cell.get_text() for cell in row.find_all('td', recursive=False)])
+
diff --git a/test_tablib.py b/test_tablib.py
index be41ee71..cfaa791c 100755
--- a/test_tablib.py
+++ b/test_tablib.py
@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@
 import unittest
 import sys
 import os
+
+from StringIO import StringIO
+
 import tablib
 from tablib.compat import markup, unicode, is_py3
 from tablib.core import Row
@@ -296,6 +299,56 @@ def test_html_export_none_value(self):
 
         self.assertEqual(html, d.html)
 
+    def test_html_import(self):
+        html = markup.page()
+        html.table.open()
+        html.thead.open()
+
+        html.tr(markup.oneliner.th(self.founders.headers))
+        html.thead.close()
+
+        for founder in self.founders:
+            html.tr(markup.oneliner.td(founder))
+
+        html.table.close()
+        html = StringIO(str(html))
+
+        data.html = html
+
+        self.assertEqual(['first_name', 'last_name', 'gpa'], data.headers)
+        self.assertEqual([
+            ('John', 'Adams', '90'),
+            ('George', 'Washington', '67'),
+            ('Thomas', 'Jefferson', '50'),
+        ], data[:])
+
+    def test_html_import_no_headers(self):
+        html = markup.page()
+        html.table.open()
+        html.thead.open()
+
+        for founder in self.founders:
+            html.tr(markup.oneliner.td(founder))
+
+        html.table.close()
+        html = StringIO(str(html))
+
+        data.html = html
+
+        self.assertEqual(None, data.headers)
+        self.assertEqual([
+            ('John', 'Adams', '90'),
+            ('George', 'Washington', '67'),
+            ('Thomas', 'Jefferson', '50'),
+        ], data[:])
+
+    def test_html_import_no_table(self):
+        html = StringIO(str(markup.page()))
+
+        with self.assertRaises(ValueError) as e:
+            data.html = html
+        self.assertEqual('Expected 1 table, found 0', e.exception.message)
+
     def test_latex_export(self):
         """LaTeX export"""