diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 2fb2a613..e5e2e3a3 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 all:
 
 # List all subdirectories here. Each contains its own Makefile.local
-subdirs = compat completion emacs lib util test
+subdirs = compat completion emacs lib man util test
 
 # We make all targets depend on the Makefiles themselves.
 global_deps = Makefile Makefile.config Makefile.local \
diff --git a/Makefile.local b/Makefile.local
index 516f26e8..d3bf9478 100644
--- a/Makefile.local
+++ b/Makefile.local
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ endif
 FINAL_LIBNOTMUCH_LDFLAGS = $(LDFLAGS) $(AS_NEEDED_LDFLAGS) $(CONFIGURE_LDFLAGS)
 
 .PHONY: all
-all: notmuch notmuch-shared notmuch.1.gz
+all: notmuch notmuch-shared
 ifeq ($(MAKECMDGOALS),)
 ifeq ($(shell cat .first-build-message 2>/dev/null),)
 	@NOTMUCH_FIRST_BUILD=1 $(MAKE) --no-print-directory all
@@ -95,8 +95,7 @@ dist: $(TAR_FILE)
 
 .PHONY: update-versions
 
-update-versions:
-	sed -i "s/^.TH NOTMUCH 1.*$$/.TH NOTMUCH 1 ${DATE} \"Notmuch ${VERSION}\"/" notmuch.1
+update-versions: update-man-versions
 	sed -i "s/^__VERSION__[[:blank:]]*=.*$$/__VERSION__ = \'${VERSION}\'/" $(PV_FILE)
 
 # We invoke make recursively only to force ordering of our phony
@@ -221,14 +220,6 @@ verify-version-python: verify-version-components
 		 echo "Please edit version and $(PV_FILE) to have consistent versions." && false)
 	@echo "Good."
 
-.PHONY: verify-version-manpage
-verify-version-manpage: verify-version-components
-	@echo -n "Checking that manual page version is $(VERSION)..."
-	@[ "$(VERSION)" = $$(sed -n '/^[.]TH NOTMUCH 1/{s/.*"Notmuch //;s/".*//p;}' notmuch.1) ] || \
-		(echo "No." && \
-		 echo "Please edit version and notmuch.1 to have consistent versions." && false)
-	@echo "Good."
-
 .PHONY: verify-version-components
 verify-version-components:
 	@echo -n "Checking that $(VERSION) consists only of digits and periods..."
@@ -326,13 +317,8 @@ notmuch: $(notmuch_client_modules) lib/libnotmuch.a util/libutil.a
 notmuch-shared: $(notmuch_client_modules) lib/$(LINKER_NAME)
 	$(call quiet,$(FINAL_NOTMUCH_LINKER) $(CFLAGS)) $(notmuch_client_modules) $(FINAL_NOTMUCH_LDFLAGS) -o $@
 
-notmuch.1.gz: notmuch.1
-	gzip --stdout $^ > $@
-
 .PHONY: install
-install: all notmuch.1.gz
-	mkdir -p "$(DESTDIR)$(mandir)/man1"
-	install -m0644 notmuch.1.gz "$(DESTDIR)$(mandir)/man1/"
+install: all install-man
 	mkdir -p "$(DESTDIR)$(prefix)/bin/"
 	install notmuch-shared "$(DESTDIR)$(prefix)/bin/notmuch"
 ifeq ($(MAKECMDGOALS), install)
@@ -363,4 +349,4 @@ install-desktop:
 	desktop-file-install --mode 0644 --dir "$(DESTDIR)$(desktop_dir)" notmuch.desktop
 
 SRCS  := $(SRCS) $(notmuch_client_srcs)
-CLEAN := $(CLEAN) notmuch notmuch-shared $(notmuch_client_modules) notmuch.elc notmuch.1.gz
+CLEAN := $(CLEAN) notmuch notmuch-shared $(notmuch_client_modules) notmuch.elc
diff --git a/man/Makefile b/man/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..fa25832e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/man/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+all:
+	$(MAKE) -C .. all
+
+.DEFAULT:
+	$(MAKE) -C .. $@
diff --git a/man/Makefile.local b/man/Makefile.local
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..234ae89c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/man/Makefile.local
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+# -*- Makefile -*-
+
+dir := man
+
+# this variable seems to be needed to prevent lazy evaluation causing
+# problems with $(dir) changing values.
+MAIN_PAGE := $(dir)/man1/notmuch.1
+
+MAN1 := \
+	$(MAIN_PAGE) \
+	$(dir)/man1/notmuch-config.1 \
+	$(dir)/man1/notmuch-count.1 \
+	$(dir)/man1/notmuch-dump.1 \
+	$(dir)/man1/notmuch-new.1 \
+	$(dir)/man1/notmuch-part.1 \
+	$(dir)/man1/notmuch-reply.1 \
+	$(dir)/man1/notmuch-search.1 \
+	$(dir)/man1/notmuch-show.1 \
+	$(dir)/man1/notmuch-tag.1
+
+MAN5 := $(dir)/man5/notmuch-hooks.5
+MAN7 := $(dir)/man7/notmuch-search-terms.7
+
+MAN1_GZ := $(addsuffix .gz,$(MAN1))
+MAN5_GZ := $(addsuffix .gz,$(MAN5))
+MAN7_GZ := $(addsuffix .gz,$(MAN7))
+
+MAN_SOURCE := $(MAN1) $(MAN5) $(MAN7)
+MAN_BACKUP := $(addsuffix .bak,$(MAN_SOURCE))
+COMPRESSED_MAN := $(MAN1_GZ) $(MAN5_GZ) $(MAN7_GZ)
+
+%.gz: %
+	gzip --stdout $^ > $@
+
+.PHONY: install-man update-man-versions verify-version-manpage
+
+install-man: $(COMPRESSED_MAN)
+	mkdir -p "$(DESTDIR)$(mandir)/man1"
+	mkdir -p "$(DESTDIR)$(mandir)/man5"
+	mkdir -p "$(DESTDIR)$(mandir)/man7"
+	install -m0644 $(MAN1_GZ) $(DESTDIR)/$(mandir)/man1
+	install -m0644 $(MAN5_GZ) $(DESTDIR)/$(mandir)/man5
+	install -m0644 $(MAN7_GZ) $(DESTDIR)/$(mandir)/man7
+	cd $(DESTDIR)/$(mandir)/man1 && ln -s notmuch.1.gz notmuch-setup.1.gz
+	cd $(DESTDIR)/$(mandir)/man1 && ln -s notmuch-dump.1.gz notmuch-restore.1.gz
+
+verify-version-manpage: verify-version-components
+	@echo -n "Checking that manual page version is $(VERSION)..."
+	@[ "$(VERSION)" = $$(sed -n '/^[.]TH NOTMUCH 1/{s/.*"Notmuch //;s/".*//p;}' $(MAIN_PAGE)) ] || \
+		(echo "No." && \
+		 echo "Please edit version and notmuch.1 to have consistent versions." && false)
+	@echo "Good."
+
+update-man-versions: $(MAN_SOURCE)
+	for file in $(MAN_SOURCE); do \
+	    cp $$file $$file.bak ; \
+	    sed "s/^.TH NOTMUCH\([^[:blank:]]*\) \([1-9]\) .*$$/.TH NOTMUCH\1 \2 ${DATE} \"Notmuch ${VERSION}\"/" \
+	        < $$file.bak > $$file; \
+	done
+
+CLEAN := $(CLEAN) $(COMPRESSED_MAN) $(MAN_BACKUP)