diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/preprocess.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/preprocess.py
index bbbc96a7a5..7e5873edd2 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/preprocess.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/conversion/preprocess.py
@@ -62,6 +62,26 @@ def wrap_lines(match):
     else:
         return ital+' '
 
+def smarten_punctuation(html, log):
+    from calibre.utils.smartypants import smartyPants
+    from calibre.ebooks.chardet import substitute_entites
+    from calibre.ebooks.conversion.utils import HeuristicProcessor
+    preprocessor = HeuristicProcessor(log=log)
+    from uuid import uuid4
+    start = 'calibre-smartypants-'+str(uuid4())
+    stop = 'calibre-smartypants-'+str(uuid4())
+    html = html.replace('<!--', start)
+    html = html.replace('-->', stop)
+    html = preprocessor.fix_nbsp_indents(html)
+    html = smartyPants(html)
+    html = html.replace(start, '<!--')
+    html = html.replace(stop, '-->')
+    # convert ellipsis to entities to prevent wrapping
+    html = re.sub(r'(?u)(?<=\w)\s?(\.\s?){2}\.', '&hellip;', html)
+    # convert double dashes to em-dash
+    html = re.sub(r'\s--\s', u'\u2014', html)
+    return substitute_entites(html)
+
 class DocAnalysis(object):
     '''
     Provides various text analysis functions to determine how the document is structured.
@@ -638,7 +658,7 @@ class HTMLPreProcessor(object):
             html = preprocessor(html)
 
         if getattr(self.extra_opts, 'smarten_punctuation', False):
-            html = self.smarten_punctuation(html)
+            html = smarten_punctuation(html, self.log)
 
         try:
             unsupported_unicode_chars = self.extra_opts.output_profile.unsupported_unicode_chars
@@ -653,23 +673,4 @@ class HTMLPreProcessor(object):
 
         return html
 
-    def smarten_punctuation(self, html):
-        from calibre.utils.smartypants import smartyPants
-        from calibre.ebooks.chardet import substitute_entites
-        from calibre.ebooks.conversion.utils import HeuristicProcessor
-        preprocessor = HeuristicProcessor(self.extra_opts, self.log)
-        from uuid import uuid4
-        start = 'calibre-smartypants-'+str(uuid4())
-        stop = 'calibre-smartypants-'+str(uuid4())
-        html = html.replace('<!--', start)
-        html = html.replace('-->', stop)
-        html = preprocessor.fix_nbsp_indents(html)
-        html = smartyPants(html)
-        html = html.replace(start, '<!--')
-        html = html.replace(stop, '-->')
-        # convert ellipsis to entities to prevent wrapping
-        html = re.sub(r'(?u)(?<=\w)\s?(\.\s?){2}\.', '&hellip;', html)
-        # convert double dashes to em-dash
-        html = re.sub(r'\s--\s', u'\u2014', html)
-        return substitute_entites(html)
 
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/oeb/polish/main.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/oeb/polish/main.py
index 0ac8f47ce5..7a2439c4ec 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/oeb/polish/main.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/oeb/polish/main.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ from calibre.ebooks.oeb.polish.container import get_container
 from calibre.ebooks.oeb.polish.stats import StatsCollector
 from calibre.ebooks.oeb.polish.subset import subset_all_fonts
 from calibre.ebooks.oeb.polish.cover import set_cover
+from calibre.ebooks.oeb.polish.replace import smarten_punctuation
 from calibre.ebooks.oeb.polish.jacket import (
     replace_jacket, add_or_replace_jacket, find_existing_jacket, remove_jacket)
 from calibre.utils.logging import Log
@@ -25,6 +26,7 @@ ALL_OPTS = {
     'cover': None,
     'jacket': False,
     'remove_jacket':False,
+    'smarten_punctuation':False,
 }
 
 SUPPORTED = {'EPUB', 'AZW3'}
@@ -72,6 +74,13 @@ etc.</p>'''),
 'remove_jacket': _('''\
 <p>Remove a previous inserted book jacket page.</p>
 '''),
+
+'smarten_punctuation': _('''\
+<p>Convert plain text, dashes, ellipsis, multiple hyphens, etc. into their
+typographically correct equivalents.</p>
+<p>Note that the algorithm can sometimes generate incorrect results, especially
+when single quotes at the start of contractions are involved.</p>
+'''),
 }
 
 def hfix(name, raw):
@@ -121,11 +130,6 @@ def polish(file_map, opts, log, report):
                 report(_('Updated metadata jacket'))
             report(_('Metadata updated\n'))
 
-        if opts.subset:
-            rt(_('Subsetting embedded fonts'))
-            subset_all_fonts(ebook, stats.font_stats, report)
-            report('')
-
         if opts.cover:
             rt(_('Setting cover'))
             set_cover(ebook, opts.cover, report)
@@ -150,6 +154,16 @@ def polish(file_map, opts, log, report):
                 report(_('No metadata jacket found'))
             report('')
 
+        if opts.smarten_punctuation:
+            rt(_('Smartening punctuation'))
+            smarten_punctuation(ebook, report)
+            report('')
+
+        if opts.subset:
+            rt(_('Subsetting embedded fonts'))
+            subset_all_fonts(ebook, stats.font_stats, report)
+            report('')
+
         ebook.commit(outbook)
         report('-'*70)
     report(_('Polishing took: %.1f seconds')%(time.time()-st))
@@ -190,6 +204,7 @@ def option_parser():
         'Path to an OPF file. The metadata in the book is updated from the OPF file.'))
     o('--jacket', '-j', help=CLI_HELP['jacket'])
     o('--remove-jacket', help=CLI_HELP['remove_jacket'])
+    o('--smarten-punctuation', '-p', help=CLI_HELP['smarten_punctuation'])
 
     o('--verbose', help=_('Produce more verbose output, useful for debugging.'))
 
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/oeb/polish/replace.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/oeb/polish/replace.py
index 0e2f672d42..b26589d5bf 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/oeb/polish/replace.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/oeb/polish/replace.py
@@ -7,10 +7,12 @@ __license__   = 'GPL v3'
 __copyright__ = '2013, Kovid Goyal <kovid at kovidgoyal.net>'
 __docformat__ = 'restructuredtext en'
 
+import codecs
 from urlparse import urlparse
 
 from cssutils import replaceUrls
 
+from calibre.ebooks.chardet import strip_encoding_declarations
 from calibre.ebooks.oeb.polish.container import guess_type
 from calibre.ebooks.oeb.base import (OEB_DOCS, OEB_STYLES, rewrite_links)
 
@@ -58,4 +60,26 @@ def replace_links(container, link_map, frag_map=lambda name, frag:frag):
         if repl.replaced:
             container.dirty(name)
 
+def smarten_punctuation(container, report):
+    from calibre.ebooks.conversion.preprocess import smarten_punctuation
+    for path in container.spine_items:
+        name = container.abspath_to_name(path)
+        changed = False
+        with container.open(name, 'r+b') as f:
+            html = container.decode(f.read())
+            newhtml = smarten_punctuation(html, container.log)
+            if newhtml != html:
+                changed = True
+                report(_('Smartened punctuation in: %s')%name)
+                newhtml = strip_encoding_declarations(newhtml)
+                f.seek(0)
+                f.truncate()
+                f.write(codecs.BOM_UTF8 + newhtml.encode('utf-8'))
+        if changed:
+            # Add an encoding declaration (it will be added automatically when
+            # serialized)
+            root = container.parsed(name)
+            for m in root.xpath('descendant::*[local-name()="meta" and @http-equiv]'):
+                m.getparent().remove(m)
+            container.dirty(name)
 
diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/actions/polish.py b/src/calibre/gui2/actions/polish.py
index 4e2e093f15..aeb3a2e332 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/actions/polish.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/actions/polish.py
@@ -40,6 +40,9 @@ class Polish(QDialog): # {{{
 
             'subset':_('<h3>Subsetting fonts</h3>%s')%HELP['subset'],
 
+            'smarten_punctuation':
+            _('<h3>Smarten punctuation</h3>%s')%HELP['smarten_punctuation'],
+
             'metadata':_('<h3>Updating metadata</h3>'
                          '<p>This will update all metadata and covers in the'
                          ' ebook files to match the current metadata in the'
@@ -61,6 +64,7 @@ class Polish(QDialog): # {{{
         count = 0
         self.all_actions = OrderedDict([
             ('subset', _('Subset all embedded fonts')),
+            ('smarten_punctuation', _('Smarten punctuation')),
             ('metadata', _('Update metadata in book files')),
             ('jacket', _('Add metadata as a "book jacket" page')),
             ('remove_jacket', _('Remove a previously inserted book jacket')),