diff --git a/include/wx/listbase.h b/include/wx/listbase.h
index c7f06adc7f..71f8983831 100644
--- a/include/wx/listbase.h
+++ b/include/wx/listbase.h
@@ -160,6 +160,9 @@ enum
 // wxListItemAttr: a structure containing the visual attributes of an item
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+// TODO: this should be renamed to wxItemAttr or something general like this
+//       and used as base class for wxTextAttr which duplicates this class
+//       entirely currently
 class WXDLLEXPORT wxListItemAttr
 {
 public:
@@ -168,7 +171,12 @@ public:
     wxListItemAttr(const wxColour& colText,
                    const wxColour& colBack,
                    const wxFont& font)
-        : m_colText(colText), m_colBack(colBack), m_font(font) { }
+        : m_colText(colText), m_colBack(colBack), m_font(font)
+    {
+    }
+
+    // default copy ctor, assignment operator and dtor are ok
+
 
     // setters
     void SetTextColour(const wxColour& colText) { m_colText = colText; }
@@ -184,6 +192,19 @@ public:
     const wxColour& GetBackgroundColour() const { return m_colBack; }
     const wxFont& GetFont() const { return m_font; }
 
+
+    // this is almost like assignment operator except it doesn't overwrite the
+    // fields unset in the source attribute
+    void AssignFrom(const wxListItemAttr& source)
+    {
+        if ( source.HasTextColour() )
+            SetTextColour(source.GetTextColour());
+        if ( source.HasBackgroundColour() )
+            SetBackgroundColour(source.GetBackgroundColour());
+        if ( source.HasFont() )
+            SetFont(source.GetFont());
+    }
+
 private:
     wxColour m_colText,
              m_colBack;
@@ -213,7 +234,7 @@ public:
           m_attr(NULL)
     {
         // copy list item attributes
-        if( item.HasAttributes() )
+        if ( item.HasAttributes() )
             m_attr = new wxListItemAttr(*item.GetAttributes());
     }
     virtual ~wxListItem() { delete m_attr; }