diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 218f8b8b..755e6b27 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ Changes in current version:
  o detect integer types properly on platforms without stdint.h
  o udpate documentation of event_loop and event_base_loop; from Tani Hosokawa.
  o simplify evbuffer by removing orig_buffer
+ o do not insert event into list when evsel->add fails
 
 
 Changes in 1.4.0:
diff --git a/event.c b/event.c
index db912d41..e2dc1f9a 100644
--- a/event.c
+++ b/event.c
@@ -735,14 +735,18 @@ event_add(struct event *ev, struct timeval *tv)
 
 	if ((ev->ev_events & (EV_READ|EV_WRITE)) &&
 	    !(ev->ev_flags & (EVLIST_INSERTED|EVLIST_ACTIVE))) {
-		event_queue_insert(base, ev, EVLIST_INSERTED);
+		int res = evsel->add(evbase, ev);
+		if (res != -1)
+			event_queue_insert(base, ev, EVLIST_INSERTED);
 
-		return (evsel->add(evbase, ev));
+		return (res);
 	} else if ((ev->ev_events & EV_SIGNAL) &&
 	    !(ev->ev_flags & EVLIST_SIGNAL)) {
-		event_queue_insert(base, ev, EVLIST_SIGNAL);
+		int res = evsel->add(evbase, ev);
+		if (res != -1)
+			event_queue_insert(base, ev, EVLIST_SIGNAL);
 
-		return (evsel->add(evbase, ev));
+		return (res);
 	}
 
 	return (0);