diff --git a/include/qpdf/InputSource.hh b/include/qpdf/InputSource.hh
index 94817155..1cbf1cf9 100644
--- a/include/qpdf/InputSource.hh
+++ b/include/qpdf/InputSource.hh
@@ -79,6 +79,8 @@ class QPDF_DLL_CLASS InputSource
     virtual void unreadCh(char ch) = 0;
 
     // The following methods are for internal use by qpdf only.
+    inline size_t read(std::string& str, size_t count, qpdf_offset_t at = -1);
+    inline std::string read(size_t count, qpdf_offset_t at = -1);
     inline qpdf_offset_t fastTell();
     inline bool fastRead(char&);
     inline void fastUnread(bool);
diff --git a/libqpdf/qpdf/InputSource_private.hh b/libqpdf/qpdf/InputSource_private.hh
index a81efe40..61946157 100644
--- a/libqpdf/qpdf/InputSource_private.hh
+++ b/libqpdf/qpdf/InputSource_private.hh
@@ -3,6 +3,25 @@
 
 #include <qpdf/InputSource.hh>
 
+inline size_t
+InputSource::read(std::string& str, size_t count, qpdf_offset_t at)
+{
+    if (at >= 0) {
+        seek(at, SEEK_SET);
+    }
+    str.resize(count);
+    str.resize(read(str.data(), count));
+    return str.size();
+}
+
+inline std::string
+InputSource::read(size_t count, qpdf_offset_t at)
+{
+    std::string result(count, '\0');
+    (void)read(result, count, at);
+    return result;
+}
+
 inline void
 InputSource::loadBuffer()
 {