diff --git a/doc/v2/class.html b/doc/v2/class.html
index 5505dc5c..79ff4bd8 100644
--- a/doc/v2/class.html
+++ b/doc/v2/class.html
@@ -462,7 +462,9 @@ class_& def(char const* name, Fn fn, A1 const& a1, A2 const& a2, A3
                 <td>Any <a href="definitions.html#ntbs">ntbs</a>.</td>
 
                 <td>Value will be bound to the <code>__doc__</code> attribute
-                of the resulting method overload.</td>
+                of the resulting method overload. If an earlier overload 
+                supplied a docstring, two newline characters and the new
+                docstring are appended to it.</td>
               </tr>
 
               <tr>
diff --git a/src/object/function.cpp b/src/object/function.cpp
index 675b4002..b7139fba 100644
--- a/src/object/function.cpp
+++ b/src/object/function.cpp
@@ -472,7 +472,12 @@ void function::add_to_namespace(
     if (doc != 0)
     {
         object attr_copy(attribute);
-        attr_copy.attr("__doc__") = doc;
+        if (PyObject_HasAttrString(attr_copy.ptr(), "__doc__") && attr_copy.attr("__doc__")) {
+            attr_copy.attr("__doc__") += "\n\n";
+            attr_copy.attr("__doc__") += doc;
+        }
+        else
+            attr_copy.attr("__doc__") = doc;
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/test/docstring.cpp b/test/docstring.cpp
index 604a4947..ddd1ee8a 100644
--- a/test/docstring.cpp
+++ b/test/docstring.cpp
@@ -47,6 +47,8 @@ BOOST_PYTHON_MODULE(docstring_ext)
         )
         .def("value", &X::value,
              "gets the value of the object")
+        .def( "value", &X::value,
+            "also gets the value of the object")
         ;
 
     def("create", create, return_value_policy<manage_new_object>(),
diff --git a/test/docstring.py b/test/docstring.py
index c154adb7..17456950 100644
--- a/test/docstring.py
+++ b/test/docstring.py
@@ -15,9 +15,6 @@ includes some error-checking
 this is the __init__ function
 its documentation has two lines.
 
->>> printdoc(X.value)
-gets the value of the object
-
 >>> printdoc(create)
 creates a new X object
 
@@ -25,6 +22,13 @@ creates a new X object
 compute the factorial
 '''
 
+def check_double_string():
+	"""
+	>>> assert check_double_string() == True
+	"""
+	from docstring_ext import X
+	return X.value.__doc__ == "gets the value of the object\n\nalso gets the value of the object"
+
 def run(args = None):
     import sys
     import doctest