diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/txt/input.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/txt/input.py
index 85bd781ff8..b1374bbeec 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/txt/input.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/txt/input.py
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ from calibre.ebooks.chardet import detect
 from calibre.ebooks.txt.processor import convert_basic, convert_markdown, \
     separate_paragraphs_single_line, separate_paragraphs_print_formatted, \
     preserve_spaces, detect_paragraph_type, detect_formatting_type, \
-    normalize_line_endings, convert_textile
+    normalize_line_endings, convert_textile, remove_indents
 from calibre import _ent_pat, xml_entity_to_unicode
 
 class TXTInput(InputFormatPlugin):
@@ -47,6 +47,9 @@ class TXTInput(InputFormatPlugin):
         OptionRecommendation(name='preserve_spaces', recommended_value=False,
             help=_('Normally extra spaces are condensed into a single space. '
                 'With this option all spaces will be displayed.')),
+        OptionRecommendation(name='txt_in_remove_indents', recommended_value=False,
+            help=_('Normally extra space at the beginning of lines is retained. '
+                   'With this option they will be removed.')),
         OptionRecommendation(name="markdown_disable_toc", recommended_value=False,
             help=_('Do not insert a Table of Contents into the output text.')),
     ])
@@ -101,6 +104,9 @@ class TXTInput(InputFormatPlugin):
             setattr(options, 'enable_heuristics', True)
             setattr(options, 'unwrap_lines', False)
 
+        if options.txt_in_remove_indents:
+            txt = remove_indents(txt)
+
         # Preserve spaces will replace multiple spaces to a space
         # followed by the   entity.
         if options.preserve_spaces:
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/txt/processor.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/txt/processor.py
index 546d3f1842..987d7cdc73 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/txt/processor.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/txt/processor.py
@@ -24,14 +24,14 @@ def clean_txt(txt):
     # all line breaks with \n.
     txt = '\n'.join([line.rstrip() for line in txt.splitlines()])
     
-    # Replace whitespace at the beginning of the list with  
-    txt = re.sub('(?m)(?P<space>[ ]+)', lambda mo: '&nbsp;' * mo.groups('space').count(' '), txt)
-    txt = re.sub('(?m)(?P<space>[\t]+)', lambda mo: '&nbsp;' * 4 * mo.groups('space').count('\t'), txt)
+    # Replace whitespace at the beginning of the line with &nbsp;
+    txt = re.sub('(?m)(?P<space>^[ ]+)(?=.)', lambda mo: '&nbsp;' * mo.groups('space').count(' '), txt)
+    txt = re.sub('(?m)(?P<space>^[\t]+)(?=.)', lambda mo: '&nbsp;' * 4 * mo.groups('space').count('\t'), txt)
 
     # Condense redundant spaces
     txt = re.sub('[ ]{2,}', ' ', txt)
 
-    # Remove blank lines from the beginning and end of the document.
+    # Remove blank space from the beginning and end of the document.
     txt = re.sub('^\s+(?=.)', '', txt)
     txt = re.sub('(?<=.)\s+$', '', txt)
     # Remove excessive line breaks.
@@ -107,6 +107,10 @@ def preserve_spaces(txt):
     txt = txt.replace('\t', '&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;')
     return txt
 
+def remove_indents(txt):
+    txt = re.sub('(?miu)^\s+', '', txt)
+    return txt
+
 def opf_writer(path, opf_name, manifest, spine, mi):
     opf = OPFCreator(path, mi)
     opf.create_manifest(manifest)