diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 5a7d41bb..96efbed3 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ Changes in 1.4.2:
  o update documentation of event_loop and event_base_loop; from Tani Hosokawa.
  o detect integer types properly on platforms without stdint.h
  o Remove "AM_MAINTAINER_MODE" declaration in configure.in: now makefiles and configure should get re-generated automatically when Makefile.am or configure.in chanes.
+ o do not insert event into list when evsel->add fails
 
 Changes in 1.4.1-beta:
  o free minheap on event_base_free(); from Christopher Layne
diff --git a/event.c b/event.c
index 259559ee..e96c1b6a 100644
--- a/event.c
+++ b/event.c
@@ -732,14 +732,18 @@ 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);