diff --git a/wxPython/src/_textctrl.i b/wxPython/src/_textctrl.i
index fa9885c807..acf79226fc 100644
--- a/wxPython/src/_textctrl.i
+++ b/wxPython/src/_textctrl.i
@@ -128,6 +128,16 @@ public:
     // operations
     void Init();
 
+    // merges the attributes of the base and the overlay objects and returns
+    // the result; the parameter attributes take precedence
+    //
+    // WARNING: the order of arguments is the opposite of Combine()
+    static wxTextAttr Merge(const wxTextAttr& base, const wxTextAttr& overlay);
+    
+//     // merges the attributes of this object and overlay
+//     void Merge(const wxTextAttr& overlay);
+
+    
     // setters
     void SetTextColour(const wxColour& colText);
     void SetBackgroundColour(const wxColour& colBack);