diff --git a/Headers/Additions/GNUstepBase/GSMime.h b/Headers/Additions/GNUstepBase/GSMime.h
index 164ef945f..514b0ef77 100644
--- a/Headers/Additions/GNUstepBase/GSMime.h
+++ b/Headers/Additions/GNUstepBase/GSMime.h
@@ -202,6 +202,8 @@
 - (NSString*) scanToken: (NSScanner*)scanner;
 - (void) setBuggyQuotes: (BOOL)flag;
 - (void) setDefaultCharset: (NSString*)aName;
+- (void) setDefaultEncoding: (NSStringEncoding)encoding;
+
 - (void) setIsHttp;
 @end
 
diff --git a/Source/Additions/GSMime.m b/Source/Additions/GSMime.m
index d168e9235..8e1c527fb 100644
--- a/Source/Additions/GSMime.m
+++ b/Source/Additions/GSMime.m
@@ -1950,6 +1950,16 @@ NSDebugMLLog(@"GSMime", @"Header parsed - %@", info);
   _defaultEncoding = [GSMimeDocument encodingFromCharset: aName];
 }
 
+/**       
+ * Method to inform the parser that body parts with no content-type
+ * header (which are treated as text/plain) should use the specified
+ * NSStringEncoding rather than the default 
+ */
+- (void) setDefaultEncoding: (NSStringEncoding)encoding
+{   
+  _defaultEncoding = encoding;
+}   
+
 /**
  * Method to inform the parser that the data it is parsing is an HTTP
  * document rather than true MIME.  This method is called internally