diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 150dee8b4e2..8ca6dcfa9c4 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -22,6 +22,9 @@ Core and Builtins
 Library
 -------
 
+- Issue $9907: Fix tab handling on OSX when using editline by calling
+  rl_initialize first, then setting our custom defaults, then reading .editrc.
+
 - Issue #4188: Avoid creating dummy thread objects when logging operations
   from the threading module (with the internal verbose flag activated).
 
diff --git a/Modules/readline.c b/Modules/readline.c
index 0afba5db9c5..b5e258db67e 100644
--- a/Modules/readline.c
+++ b/Modules/readline.c
@@ -865,6 +865,14 @@ setup_readline(void)
         Py_FatalError("not enough memory to save locale");
 #endif
 
+#ifdef __APPLE__
+    /* the libedit readline emulation resets key bindings etc 
+     * when calling rl_initialize.  So call it upfront
+     */
+    if (using_libedit_emulation)
+        rl_initialize();
+#endif /* __APPLE__ */
+
     using_history();
 
     rl_readline_name = "python";
@@ -896,8 +904,13 @@ setup_readline(void)
      * XXX: A bug in the readline-2.2 library causes a memory leak
      * inside this function.  Nothing we can do about it.
      */
-    rl_initialize();
-
+#ifdef __APPLE__
+    if (using_libedit_emulation)
+	rl_read_init_file(NULL);
+    else
+#endif /* __APPLE__ */
+        rl_initialize();
+    
     RESTORE_LOCALE(saved_locale)
 }