diff --git a/RedBean/OODB.php b/RedBean/OODB.php
index bbb0c5e0f..46b9e3ef5 100755
--- a/RedBean/OODB.php
+++ b/RedBean/OODB.php
@@ -895,25 +895,52 @@ public function setDepList($dep) {
 	 */
 	public function preload($beans, $types) {
 		foreach($types as $key => $type) {
-			$map = array();
-			$field = (is_numeric($key)) ? $type : $key;
-			$ids = array();
-			foreach($beans as $bean) {
-				if($id = $bean->{$field.'_id'}){
+			$map = $ids = array();
+			$field = (is_numeric($key)) ? $type : $key;//use an alias?
+			$filteredBeans = $beans;
+			while($p = strpos($field,'.')) { //filtering: find the right beans in the path
+				$nesting = substr($field,0,$p);
+				$filtered = array();
+				foreach($filteredBeans as $bean) {
+					if (is_array($bean->$nesting)) {
+						$filtered = array_merge($filtered,$bean->$nesting);
+					} elseif (!is_null($bean->$nesting)) {
+						$filtered[] = $bean->$nesting;
+					}
+				}
+				$filteredBeans = $filtered;
+				$field = substr($field,$p+1);
+			}
+			if (strpos($type,'.')) $type = $field;
+			foreach($filteredBeans as $bean) { //gather ids to load the desired bean collections
+				if (strpos($field,'own')===0) { //based on bean->id for ownlist
+					$id = $bean->id;
+					$ids[$id] = $id;
+				} elseif($id = $bean->{$field.'_id'}){ //based on bean_id for parent
 					$ids[$id] = $id;
 					if (!isset($map[$id])) $map[$id] = array();
 					$map[$id][] = $bean;
 				}
 			}
-			$parents = $this->batch($type,$ids);
-			foreach($parents as $parent) {
-				foreach($map[$parent->id] as $childBean) {
-					$childBean->setProperty($field,$parent);
+			if (strpos($field,'own')===0) {//preload for own-list using find
+				$link = $bean->getMeta('type').'_id';
+				$children = $this->find($type,array($link=>$ids));
+				foreach($filteredBeans as $bean) {
+					$list = array();
+					foreach($children as $child) {
+						if ($child->$link==$bean->id) $list[$child->id] = $child;
+					}
+					$bean->setProperty($field,$list);
 				}
-			}
+			} else { //preload for parent objects using batch()
+				foreach($this->batch($type,$ids) as $parent) {
+					foreach($map[$parent->id] as $childBean) {
+						$childBean->setProperty($field,$parent);
+					}
+				}
+			}			
 		}
 	}
-
 }
 
 
diff --git a/testing/RedUNIT/Base/Preloading.php b/testing/RedUNIT/Base/Preloading.php
index adc5a57fa..43b0ef3e9 100644
--- a/testing/RedUNIT/Base/Preloading.php
+++ b/testing/RedUNIT/Base/Preloading.php
@@ -149,6 +149,96 @@ public function run() {
 			asrt($item->author->name,'John');
 		}
 		
+		//test nested bean preloading
+		R::nuke();
+		$authors = R::dispense('author',2);
+		foreach($authors as $author) { 
+			$author->ownBook = R::dispense('book',2);
+			foreach($author->ownBook as $book) {
+				$book->ownPage = R::dispense('page',2);
+				foreach($book->ownPage as $page) $page->ownText = R::dispense('text',1);
+			}
+		}
+		R::storeAll($authors);
+		$texts = R::find('text');
+		R::nuke();
+		$text = reset($texts);
+		asrt(($text->page),null);
+		
+		//now with preloading
+		R::nuke();
+		$authors = R::dispense('author',2);
+		foreach($authors as $author) { 
+			$author->ownBook = R::dispense('book',2);
+			foreach($author->ownBook as $book) {
+				$book->ownPage = R::dispense('page',2);
+				foreach($book->ownPage as $page) $page->ownText = R::dispense('text',2);
+			}
+		}
+		R::storeAll($authors);
+		$texts = R::find('text');
+		R::preload($texts,array('page','page.book','page.book.author'));
+		R::nuke();
+		$text = reset($texts);
+		asrt(($text->page->id)>0,true);
+		asrt(($text->page->book->id)>0,true);
+		asrt(($text->page->book->author->id)>0,true);
+		
+		R::nuke();
+		$authors = R::dispense('author',2);
+		foreach($authors as $author) { 
+			$author->alias('coauthor')->ownBook = R::dispense('book',2);
+			foreach($author->alias('coauthor')->ownBook as $book) {
+				$book->ownPage = R::dispense('page',2);
+				foreach($book->ownPage as $page) $page->ownText = R::dispense('text',2);
+			}
+		}
+		R::storeAll($authors);
+		$texts = R::find('text');
+		R::preload($texts,array('page','page.book','page.book.coauthor'=>'author'));
+		R::nuke();
+		$text = reset($texts);
+		asrt(($text->page->id)>0,true);
+		asrt(($text->page->book->id)>0,true);
+		asrt(($text->page->book->fetchAs('author')->coauthor->id)>0,true);
+		
+		//now test preloading of own-lists
+		R::nuke();
+		$authors = R::dispense('author',2);
+		foreach($authors as $author) { 
+			$author->ownBook = R::dispense('book',2);
+			foreach($author->ownBook as $book) {
+				$book->ownPage = R::dispense('page',2);
+				foreach($book->ownPage as $page) $page->ownText = R::dispense('text',2);
+			}
+		}
+		R::storeAll($authors);
+		$authors = R::find('author');
+		R::preload($authors,array('ownBook'=>'book','ownBook.ownPage'=>'page','ownBook.ownPage.ownText'=>'text'));
+		R::nuke();
+		$author = reset($authors);
+		asrt(count($author->ownBook),2);
+		$book = reset($author->ownBook);
+		asrt(count($book->ownPage),2);
+		$page = reset($book->ownPage);
+		asrt(count($page->ownText),2);
+		
+		//now test with empty beans
+		$authors = R::dispense('author',2);
+		R::storeAll($authors);
+		$authors = R::find('author');
+		R::preload($authors,array('ownBook'=>'book','ownBook.ownPage'=>'page','ownBook.ownPage.ownText'=>'text'));
+		$author = reset($authors);
+		asrt(count($author->ownBook),0);
+		
+		$texts = R::dispense('text',2);
+		R::storeAll($texts);
+		$texts = R::find('text');
+		R::preload($texts,array('page','page.book'));
+		$text = reset($texts);
+		asrt($text->page,null);
+		
+		
 	}	
 	
 }
\ No newline at end of file