diff --git a/Lib/email/Utils.py b/Lib/email/Utils.py
index cc02f5e..78365be 100644
--- a/Lib/email/Utils.py
+++ b/Lib/email/Utils.py
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 from cStringIO import StringIO
 from types import ListType
 
-from rfc822 import unquote, quote
+from rfc822 import quote
 from rfc822 import AddressList as _AddressList
 from rfc822 import mktime_tz
 
@@ -260,6 +260,17 @@
     return addrs[0]
 
 
+# rfc822.unquote() doesn't properly de-backslash-ify in Python pre-2.3.
+def unquote(str):
+    """Remove quotes from a string."""
+    if len(str) > 1:
+        if str.startswith('"') and str.endswith('"'):
+            return str[1:-1].replace('\\\\', '\\').replace('\\"', '"')
+        if str.startswith('<') and str.endswith('>'):
+            return str[1:-1]
+    return str
+
+
 
 # RFC2231-related functions - parameter encoding and decoding
 def decode_rfc2231(s):