diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/mobi/reader.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/mobi/reader.py
index faf9c1ac2b..1317ab92c2 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/mobi/reader.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/mobi/reader.py
@@ -216,11 +216,10 @@ class MobiReader(object):
if self.book_header.ancient and '')+''
self.processed_html = self.processed_html.replace('> <', '>\n<')
- self.processed_html = self.processed_html.replace('', '')
- self.processed_html = self.processed_html.replace('', '')
- self.processed_html = self.processed_html.replace('', '')
- self.processed_html = self.processed_html.replace('', '')
-
+ for t, c in [('b', 'bold'), ('i', 'italic')]:
+ self.processed_html = re.sub(r'(?i)<%s>'%t, r''%c, self.processed_html)
+ self.processed_html = re.sub(r'(?i)%s>'%t, r'', self.processed_html)
+
def cleanup_soup(self, soup):
for tag in soup.recursiveChildGenerator():
if not isinstance(tag, Tag): continue