diff --git a/docs/changelog.rst b/docs/changelog.rst
index def3ceb71e..875b585dc3 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.rst
+++ b/docs/changelog.rst
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ Breaking changes queued for v2.0.0 (Not yet released)
 * ``make_iterator()`` improvements for better compatibility with various types
   (now uses prefix increment operator)
 * ``arg()`` now accepts a wider range of argument types for default values
+* Added ``repr()`` method to the ``handle`` class.
 * Added support for registering structured dtypes via ``PYBIND11_NUMPY_DTYPE()`` macro.
 * Added ``PYBIND11_STR_TYPE`` macro which maps to the ``builtins.str`` type.
 * Added a simplified ``buffer_info`` constructor for 1-dimensional buffers.
diff --git a/example/example-python-types.cpp b/example/example-python-types.cpp
index 00567931da..55066a8119 100644
--- a/example/example-python-types.cpp
+++ b/example/example-python-types.cpp
@@ -155,6 +155,11 @@ class ExamplePythonTypes {
         return (py::str) py::bytes("boo", 3);
     }
 
+    void test_print(const py::object& obj) {
+        std::cout << obj.str() << std::endl;
+        std::cout << obj.repr() << std::endl;
+    }
+
     static int value;
     static const int value2;
 };
@@ -187,6 +192,7 @@ void init_ex_python_types(py::module &m) {
         .def("get_bytes_from_str", &ExamplePythonTypes::get_bytes_from_str, "py::bytes from py::str")
         .def("get_str_from_string", &ExamplePythonTypes::get_str_from_string, "py::str from std::string")
         .def("get_str_from_bytes", &ExamplePythonTypes::get_str_from_bytes, "py::str from py::bytes")
+        .def("test_print", &ExamplePythonTypes::test_print, "test the print function")
         .def_static("new_instance", &ExamplePythonTypes::new_instance, "Return an instance")
         .def_readwrite_static("value", &ExamplePythonTypes::value, "Static value member")
         .def_readonly_static("value2", &ExamplePythonTypes::value2, "Static value member (readonly)")
diff --git a/example/example-python-types.py b/example/example-python-types.py
index 1184f720a7..11b89bfe2d 100755
--- a/example/example-python-types.py
+++ b/example/example-python-types.py
@@ -71,6 +71,12 @@
 print(instance.get_str_from_string().encode().decode())
 print(instance.get_str_from_bytes().encode().decode())
 
+class A(object):
+    __str__ = lambda _: 'this is a str'
+    __repr__ = lambda _: 'this is a repr'
+
+instance.test_print(A())
+
 from example import ConstructorStats
 
 cstats = ConstructorStats.get(ExamplePythonTypes)
diff --git a/example/example-python-types.ref b/example/example-python-types.ref
index ab89d7eb5c..d89acb6513 100644
--- a/example/example-python-types.ref
+++ b/example/example-python-types.ref
@@ -139,6 +139,8 @@ foo
 bar
 baz
 boo
+this is a str
+this is a repr
 Instances not destroyed: 1
 ### ExamplePythonTypes @ 0x1045b80 destroyed
 Instances not destroyed: 0
diff --git a/include/pybind11/pytypes.h b/include/pybind11/pytypes.h
index d3895db57f..d25bc3836a 100644
--- a/include/pybind11/pytypes.h
+++ b/include/pybind11/pytypes.h
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ class handle {
     inline detail::accessor attr(handle key) const;
     inline detail::accessor attr(const char *key) const;
     inline pybind11::str str() const;
+    inline pybind11::str repr() const;
     template <typename T> T cast() const;
     template <return_value_policy policy = return_value_policy::automatic_reference, typename ... Args>
     #if __cplusplus > 201103L
@@ -383,6 +384,15 @@ inline pybind11::str handle::str() const {
     return pybind11::str(strValue, false);
 }
 
+inline pybind11::str handle::repr() const {
+    PyObject *strValue = PyObject_Repr(m_ptr);
+#if PY_MAJOR_VERSION < 3
+    PyObject *unicode = PyUnicode_FromEncodedObject(strValue, "utf-8", nullptr);
+    Py_XDECREF(strValue); strValue = unicode;
+#endif
+    return pybind11::str(strValue, false);
+}
+
 class bytes : public object {
 public:
     PYBIND11_OBJECT_DEFAULT(bytes, object, PYBIND11_BYTES_CHECK)