diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/pdf/render/common.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/pdf/render/common.py
index 347c680238..d5f4b6a66b 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/pdf/render/common.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/pdf/render/common.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ __docformat__ = 'restructuredtext en'
 
 import codecs, zlib
 from io import BytesIO
+from datetime import datetime
 
 from calibre.constants import plugins, ispy3
 
@@ -74,6 +75,11 @@ def serialize(o, stream):
         o.pdf_serialize(stream)
     elif o is None:
         stream.write_raw(b'null')
+    elif isinstance(o, datetime):
+        val = o.strftime("D:%Y%m%d%H%M%%02d%z")%min(59, o.second)
+        if datetime.tzinfo is not None:
+            val = "(%s'%s')"%(val[:-2], val[-2:])
+        stream.write(val.encode('ascii'))
     else:
         raise ValueError('Unknown object: %r'%o)
 
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/pdf/render/serialize.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/pdf/render/serialize.py
index 3ef07eebc1..936cb5f156 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/pdf/render/serialize.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/pdf/render/serialize.py
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ from calibre.ebooks.pdf.render.common import (
     fmtnum)
 from calibre.ebooks.pdf.render.fonts import FontManager
 from calibre.ebooks.pdf.render.links import Links
+from calibre.utils.date import utcnow
 
 PDFVER = b'%PDF-1.3'
 
@@ -259,8 +260,11 @@ class PDFStream(object):
         self.objects.add(PageTree(page_size))
         self.objects.add(Catalog(self.page_tree))
         self.current_page = Page(self.page_tree, compress=self.compress)
-        self.info = Dictionary({'Creator':String(creator),
-                                'Producer':String(creator)})
+        self.info = Dictionary({
+            'Creator':String(creator),
+            'Producer':String(creator),
+            'CreationDate': utcnow(),
+                                })
         self.stroke_opacities, self.fill_opacities = {}, {}
         self.font_manager = FontManager(self.objects, self.compress)
         self.image_cache = {}