diff --git a/bookwyrm/templates/book/publisher_info.html b/bookwyrm/templates/book/publisher_info.html
index e3ffedca8..26d8e43fd 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/templates/book/publisher_info.html
+++ b/bookwyrm/templates/book/publisher_info.html
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {% spaceless %}
 
 {% load i18n %}
-{% load humanize %}
+{% load sealed_dates %}
 
 {% firstof book.physical_format_detail book.get_physical_format_display as format %}
 {% firstof book.physical_format book.physical_format_detail as format_property %}
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@
         {% endfor %}
     {% endif %}
 
-    {% with date=book.published_date|default:book.first_published_date|naturalday publisher=book.publishers|join:', ' %}
+    {% with date=book.published_date|default:book.first_published_date|naturalday_partial publisher=book.publishers|join:', ' %}
     {% if book.published_date and publisher %}
         {% blocktrans %}Published {{ date }} by {{ publisher }}.{% endblocktrans %}
     {% elif publisher %}
diff --git a/bookwyrm/templatetags/sealed_dates.py b/bookwyrm/templatetags/sealed_dates.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..fb64734fa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bookwyrm/templatetags/sealed_dates.py
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+""" formatting of SealedDate instances """
+from django import template
+from django.template import defaultfilters
+from django.contrib.humanize.templatetags.humanize import naturalday
+
+from bookwyrm.utils.sealed_date import SealedDate
+
+register = template.Library()
+
+
+@register.filter(expects_localtime=True, is_safe=False)
+def naturalday_partial(date):
+    if not isinstance(date, SealedDate):
+        return defaultfilters.date(date)
+    if date.has_day:
+        fmt = "DATE_FORMAT"
+    elif date.has_month:
+        fmt = "YEAR_MONTH_FORMAT"
+    else:
+        fmt = "Y"
+    return naturalday(date, fmt)