diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/convert/xexp_edit.ui b/src/calibre/gui2/convert/xexp_edit.ui
index 0b11e9c071..1b0196a8a1 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/convert/xexp_edit.ui
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/convert/xexp_edit.ui
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
    <rect>
     <x>0</x>
     <y>0</y>
-    <width>400</width>
+    <width>422</width>
     <height>64</height>
    </rect>
   </property>
@@ -30,7 +30,20 @@
       </widget>
      </item>
      <item>
-      <widget class="QLineEdit" name="edit"/>
+      <widget class="HistoryLineEdit" name="edit">
+       <property name="sizePolicy">
+        <sizepolicy hsizetype="Expanding" vsizetype="Fixed">
+         <horstretch>100</horstretch>
+         <verstretch>0</verstretch>
+        </sizepolicy>
+       </property>
+       <property name="minimumSize">
+        <size>
+         <width>350</width>
+         <height>0</height>
+        </size>
+       </property>
+      </widget>
      </item>
     </layout>
    </item>
@@ -54,8 +67,28 @@
      </property>
     </widget>
    </item>
+   <item row="0" column="2">
+    <spacer name="horizontalSpacer">
+     <property name="orientation">
+      <enum>Qt::Horizontal</enum>
+     </property>
+     <property name="sizeHint" stdset="0">
+      <size>
+       <width>20</width>
+       <height>20</height>
+      </size>
+     </property>
+    </spacer>
+   </item>
   </layout>
  </widget>
+ <customwidgets>
+  <customwidget>
+   <class>HistoryLineEdit</class>
+   <extends>QComboBox</extends>
+   <header>calibre/gui2/widgets.h</header>
+  </customwidget>
+ </customwidgets>
  <resources>
   <include location="../../../../resources/images.qrc"/>
  </resources>
diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/convert/xpath_wizard.py b/src/calibre/gui2/convert/xpath_wizard.py
index ef42a876d3..21c8aded06 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/convert/xpath_wizard.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/convert/xpath_wizard.py
@@ -70,13 +70,18 @@ class XPathEdit(QWidget, Ui_Edit):
         if wiz.exec_() == wiz.Accepted:
             self.edit.setText(wiz.xpath)
 
+    def setObjectName(self, *args):
+        QWidget.setObjectName(self, *args)
+        if hasattr(self, 'edit'):
+            self.edit.initialize('xpath_edit_'+unicode(self.objectName()))
+
 
     def set_msg(self, msg):
         self.msg.setText(msg)
 
     @property
     def text(self):
-        return unicode(self.edit.text())
+        return unicode(self.edit.currentText())
 
     @property
     def xpath(self):
@@ -95,4 +100,10 @@ class XPathEdit(QWidget, Ui_Edit):
         return True
 
 
-
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    from PyQt4.Qt import QApplication
+    app = QApplication([])
+    w = XPathEdit()
+    w.setObjectName('test')
+    w.show()
+    app.exec_()
diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/widgets.py b/src/calibre/gui2/widgets.py
index 7784915b96..9bf904da71 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/widgets.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/widgets.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ from PyQt4.Qt import QListView, QIcon, QFont, QLabel, QListWidget, \
                         QAbstractListModel, QVariant, Qt, SIGNAL, \
                         QRegExp, QSettings, QSize, QModelIndex, \
                         QAbstractButton, QPainter, QLineEdit, QComboBox, \
-                        QMenu, QStringListModel, QCompleter
+                        QMenu, QStringListModel, QCompleter, QStringList
 
 from calibre.gui2 import human_readable, NONE, TableView, \
                          qstring_to_unicode, error_dialog
@@ -21,9 +21,11 @@ from calibre import fit_image
 from calibre.utils.fonts import fontconfig
 from calibre.ebooks import BOOK_EXTENSIONS
 from calibre.ebooks.metadata.meta import metadata_from_filename
-from calibre.utils.config import prefs
+from calibre.utils.config import prefs, XMLConfig
 from calibre.gui2.progress_indicator import ProgressIndicator as _ProgressIndicator
 
+history = XMLConfig('history')
+
 class ProgressIndicator(QWidget):
 
     def __init__(self, *args):
@@ -506,16 +508,16 @@ class LineEditECM(object):
         menu.exec_(event.globalPos())
 
     def upper_case(self):
-        self.setText(qstring_to_unicode(self.text()).upper())
+        self.setText(unicode(self.text()).upper())
 
     def lower_case(self):
-        self.setText(qstring_to_unicode(self.text()).lower())
+        self.setText(unicode(self.text()).lower())
 
     def swap_case(self):
-        self.setText(qstring_to_unicode(self.text()).swapcase())
+        self.setText(unicode(self.text()).swapcase())
 
     def title_case(self):
-        self.setText(qstring_to_unicode(self.text()).title())
+        self.setText(unicode(self.text()).title())
 
 
 class EnLineEdit(LineEditECM, QLineEdit):
@@ -620,7 +622,7 @@ class EnComboBox(QComboBox):
         self.setLineEdit(EnLineEdit(self))
 
     def text(self):
-        return qstring_to_unicode(self.currentText())
+        return unicode(self.currentText())
 
     def setText(self, text):
         idx = self.findText(text, Qt.MatchFixedString)
@@ -629,6 +631,43 @@ class EnComboBox(QComboBox):
             idx = 0
         self.setCurrentIndex(idx)
 
+class HistoryLineEdit(QComboBox):
+
+    def __init__(self, *args):
+        QComboBox.__init__(self, *args)
+        self.setEditable(True)
+        self.setInsertPolicy(self.NoInsert)
+        self.setMaxCount(10)
+
+    @property
+    def store_name(self):
+        return 'lineedit_history_'+self._name
+
+    def initialize(self, name):
+        self._name = name
+        self.addItems(QStringList(history.get(self.store_name, [])))
+        self.setEditText('')
+        self.lineEdit().editingFinished.connect(self.save_history)
+
+    def save_history(self):
+        items = []
+        ct = unicode(self.currentText())
+        if ct:
+            items.append(ct)
+        for i in range(self.count()):
+            item = unicode(self.itemText(i))
+            if item not in items:
+                items.append(item)
+
+        history.set(self.store_name, items)
+
+    def setText(self, t):
+        self.setEditText(t)
+        self.lineEdit().setCursorPosition(0)
+
+    def text(self):
+        return self.currentText()
+
 class PythonHighlighter(QSyntaxHighlighter):
 
     Rules = []