diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/epub/from_html.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/epub/from_html.py
index 722b6cd4e3..c358471f09 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/epub/from_html.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/epub/from_html.py
@@ -165,8 +165,11 @@ class HTMLProcessor(Processor, Rationalizer):
                 br.tag = 'p'
                 br.text = u'\u00a0'
                 if (br.tail and br.tail.strip()) or sibling is None or \
-                    getattr(sibling, 'tag', '') != 'br':
-                    br.set('style', br.get('style', '')+'; margin: 0pt; border:0pt; height:0pt')
+                   getattr(sibling, 'tag', '') != 'br':
+                    style = br.get('style', '').split(';')
+                    style = filter(None, map(lambda x: x.strip(), style))
+                    style.append('margin: 0pt; border:0pt; height:0pt')
+                    br.set('style', '; '.join(style))
                 else:
                     sibling.getparent().remove(sibling)
                     if sibling.tail:
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/oeb/stylizer.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/oeb/stylizer.py
index bf04133254..c2d12f317e 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/oeb/stylizer.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/oeb/stylizer.py
@@ -277,10 +277,9 @@ class Style(object):
     def _apply_style_attr(self):
         attrib = self._element.attrib
         if 'style' in attrib:
-            css = attrib['style'].strip()
-            if css.startswith(';'):
-                css = css[1:]
-            style = CSSStyleDeclaration(css)
+            css = attrib['style'].split(';')
+            css = filter(None, map(lambda x: x.strip(), css))
+            style = CSSStyleDeclaration('; '.join(css))
             self._style.update(self._stylizer.flatten_style(style))
 
     def _has_parent(self):