diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/cli.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/cli.py
index 5de8b76c43..780d3febcf 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/cli.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/cli.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ from calibre.ebooks.metadata import string_to_authors, authors_to_sort_string, \
                     title_sort, MetaInformation
 from calibre.ebooks.lrf.meta import LRFMetaFile
 from calibre import prints
+from calibre.utils.date import parse_date
 
 USAGE='%%prog ebook_file [' + _('options') + ']\n' + \
 _('''
@@ -69,6 +70,8 @@ def config():
               help=_('Set the book producer.'))
     c.add_opt('language', ['-l', '--language'],
               help=_('Set the language.'))
+    c.add_opt('pubdate', ['-d', '--date'],
+              help=_('Set the published date.'))
 
     c.add_opt('get_cover', ['--get-cover'],
               help=_('Get the cover from the ebook and save it at as the '
@@ -132,6 +135,8 @@ def do_set_metadata(opts, mi, stream, stream_type):
         mi.series = opts.series.strip()
     if getattr(opts, 'series_index', None) is not None:
         mi.series_index = float(opts.series_index.strip())
+    if getattr(opts, 'pubdate', None) is not None:
+        mi.pubdate = parse_date(opts.pubdate, assume_utc=False, as_utc=False)
 
     if getattr(opts, 'cover', None) is not None:
         ext = os.path.splitext(opts.cover)[1].replace('.', '').upper()
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/opf2.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/opf2.py
index 15ee0d1bc6..5e57b0b515 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/opf2.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/opf2.py
@@ -863,7 +863,8 @@ class OPF(object):
     def smart_update(self, mi):
         for attr in ('title', 'authors', 'author_sort', 'title_sort',
                      'publisher', 'series', 'series_index', 'rating',
-                     'isbn', 'language', 'tags', 'category', 'comments'):
+                     'isbn', 'language', 'tags', 'category', 'comments',
+                     'pubdate'):
             val = getattr(mi, attr, None)
             if val is not None and val != [] and val != (None, None):
                 setattr(self, attr, val)