diff --git a/nanddump.c b/nanddump.c
index be458c6..700bdcf 100644
--- a/nanddump.c
+++ b/nanddump.c
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ static void display_help(void)
 "-p         --prettyprint        Print nice (hexdump)\n"
 "-q         --quiet              Don't display progress and status messages\n"
 "-s addr    --startaddress=addr  Start address\n"
+"-x         --skipleadingbad     Skip leading bad blocks before startaddress\n"
 "\n"
 "--bb=METHOD, where METHOD can be `padbad', `dumpbad', or `skipbad':\n"
 "    padbad:  dump flash data, substituting 0xFF for any bad blocks\n"
@@ -88,6 +89,7 @@ static const char		*dumpfile;		// dump file name
 static bool			quiet = false;		// suppress diagnostic output
 static bool			canonical = false;	// print nice + ascii
 static bool			forcebinary = false;	// force printing binary to tty
+static bool			skip_leading = false;	// skip over leading bad blocks
 
 static enum {
 	padbad,   // dump flash data, substituting 0xFF for any bad blocks
@@ -102,7 +104,7 @@ static void process_options(int argc, char * const argv[])
 
 	for (;;) {
 		int option_index = 0;
-		static const char *short_options = "s:f:l:opqnca";
+		static const char *short_options = "s:f:l:opqncax";
 		static const struct option long_options[] = {
 			{"help", no_argument, 0, 0},
 			{"version", no_argument, 0, 0},
@@ -114,6 +116,7 @@ static void process_options(int argc, char * const argv[])
 			{"oob", no_argument, 0, 'o'},
 			{"prettyprint", no_argument, 0, 'p'},
 			{"startaddress", required_argument, 0, 's'},
+			{"skipleading", no_argument, 0, 'x'},
 			{"length", required_argument, 0, 'l'},
 			{"noecc", no_argument, 0, 'n'},
 			{"quiet", no_argument, 0, 'q'},
@@ -159,6 +162,9 @@ static void process_options(int argc, char * const argv[])
 			case 's':
 				start_addr = simple_strtoll(optarg, &error);
 				break;
+			case 'x':
+				skip_leading = true;
+				break;
 			case 'f':
 				if (!(dumpfile = strdup(optarg))) {
 					perror("stddup");
@@ -392,7 +398,27 @@ int main(int argc, char * const argv[])
 				start_addr, end_addr);
 	}
 
+	if (skip_leading) {
+		if (!quiet)
+			fprintf(stderr, "Skipping leading bad blocks.\n");
+		for (ofs = 0; ofs < start_addr && start_addr < mtd.size; ofs += mtd.eb_size) {
+			if ((badblock = mtd_is_bad(&mtd, fd, ofs / mtd.eb_size)) < 0) {
+				errmsg("libmtd: mtd_is_bad");
+				goto closeall;
+			}
+			if (badblock) {
+				if (!quiet)
+					fprintf(stderr, "block at 0x%08llx is bad, skipping.\n", ofs);
+				start_addr = MIN(start_addr + mtd.eb_size, mtd.size);
+				end_addr = MIN(end_addr + mtd.eb_size, mtd.size);
+			}
+		}
+	}
 	/* Dump the flash contents */
+	if (!quiet) {
+		fprintf(stderr, "startaddr: 0x%08llx .\n", start_addr);
+		fprintf(stderr, "  endaddr: 0x%08llx .\n", end_addr);
+	}
 	for (ofs = start_addr; ofs < end_addr; ofs += bs) {
 		/* Check for bad block */
 		if (bb_method == dumpbad) {