diff --git a/example/example9.cpp b/example/example9.cpp
index 81b6edc09..f64b539a2 100644
--- a/example/example9.cpp
+++ b/example/example9.cpp
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 /*
-    example/example9.cpp -- nested modules and internal references
+    example/example9.cpp -- nested modules, importing modules, and
+                            internal references
 
     Copyright (c) 2015 Wenzel Jakob <wenzel@inf.ethz.ch>
 
@@ -49,4 +50,6 @@ void init_ex9(py::module &m) {
         .def("get_a2", &B::get_a2, "Return the internal A 2", py::return_value_policy::reference_internal)
         .def_readwrite("a1", &B::a1)  // def_readonly uses an internal reference return policy by default
         .def_readwrite("a2", &B::a2);
+
+    m.attr("OD") = py::module::import("collections").attr("OrderedDict");
 }
diff --git a/example/example9.py b/example/example9.py
index 9a29353c7..2262fcf5c 100755
--- a/example/example9.py
+++ b/example/example9.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ print(example.__name__)
 print(example.submodule.__name__)
 
 from example.submodule import *
+from example import OD
 
 submodule_func()
 
@@ -26,3 +27,4 @@ print(b.a1)
 print(b.get_a2())
 print(b.a2)
 
+print(OD([(1, 'a'), (2, 'b')]))
diff --git a/example/example9.ref b/example/example9.ref
index c498077d7..9c783135c 100644
--- a/example/example9.ref
+++ b/example/example9.ref
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ A[42]
 A[42]
 A[43]
 A[43]
+OrderedDict([(1, 'a'), (2, 'b')])
 B destructor
 A destructor
 A destructor
diff --git a/include/pybind/pybind.h b/include/pybind/pybind.h
index 9ca1929f8..86fc60991 100644
--- a/include/pybind/pybind.h
+++ b/include/pybind/pybind.h
@@ -466,6 +466,10 @@ public:
         attr(name) = result;
         return result;
     }
+
+    static module import(const char *name) {
+        return module(PyImport_ImportModule(name), false);
+    }
 };
 
 NAMESPACE_BEGIN(detail)