diff --git a/nbrmd/cells.py b/nbrmd/cells.py
index 029dcb080..9bd01fab0 100644
--- a/nbrmd/cells.py
+++ b/nbrmd/cells.py
@@ -246,7 +246,6 @@ def no_code_before_next_blank_line(lines):
 
 
 def code_or_raw_cell(source, metadata):
-    source = unescape_magic(source)
     source = '\n'.join(source)
 
     if 'ipynb' not in re.split('\\.|,', metadata.get('active', 'ipynb')):
diff --git a/nbrmd/nbrmd.py b/nbrmd/nbrmd.py
index 50caac627..abc33650e 100644
--- a/nbrmd/nbrmd.py
+++ b/nbrmd/nbrmd.py
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 from .languages import get_default_language, find_main_language
 from .cells import start_code_rmd, start_code_rpy, cell_to_text, text_to_cell
 from .cells import markdown_to_cell_rmd, markdown_to_cell, code_to_cell
+from .cells import unescape_magic
 
 # -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Code
@@ -91,6 +92,8 @@ def to_notebook(self, text, **kwargs):
         if pos > 0:
             lines = lines[pos:]
 
+        lines = unescape_magic(lines)
+
         while lines:
             cell, pos = self.text_to_cell(lines)
             if cell is None:
diff --git a/tests/test_read_simple_python.py b/tests/test_read_simple_python.py
index a9223aad2..32749c880 100644
--- a/tests/test_read_simple_python.py
+++ b/tests/test_read_simple_python.py
@@ -147,6 +147,31 @@ def test_read_cell_with_magic(pynb="""# ---
     compare(pynb, pynb2)
 
 
+def test_isolated_cell_with_magic(pynb="""# ---
+# title: cell with isolated jupyter magic
+# ---
+
+# %matplotlib inline
+
+
+1 + 1
+"""):
+    nb = nbrmd.reads(pynb, ext='.py')
+
+    assert len(nb.cells) == 3
+    assert nb.cells[0].cell_type == 'raw'
+    assert nb.cells[0].source == '---\ntitle: cell with isolated jupyter ' \
+                                 'magic\n---'
+    assert nb.cells[1].cell_type == 'code'
+    assert nb.cells[1].source == '%matplotlib inline'
+
+    assert nb.cells[2].cell_type == 'code'
+    assert nb.cells[2].source == '1 + 1'
+
+    pynb2 = nbrmd.writes(nb, ext='.py')
+    compare(pynb, pynb2)
+
+
 def test_read_multiline_comment(pynb="""'''This is a multiline
 comment with "quotes", 'single quotes'
 # and comments