diff --git a/IPython/frontend/html/notebook/tests/test_nbmanager.py b/IPython/frontend/html/notebook/tests/test_nbmanager.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8158725
--- /dev/null
+++ b/IPython/frontend/html/notebook/tests/test_nbmanager.py
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+"""Tests for the notebook manager."""
+
+import os
+from unittest import TestCase
+from tempfile import NamedTemporaryFile
+
+from IPython.utils.tempdir import TemporaryDirectory
+from IPython.utils.traitlets import TraitError
+
+from IPython.frontend.html.notebook.notebookmanager import NotebookManager
+
+class TestNotebookManager(TestCase):
+
+    def test_nb_dir(self):
+        with TemporaryDirectory() as td:
+            km = NotebookManager(notebook_dir=td)
+            self.assertEquals(km.notebook_dir, td)
+
+    def test_create_nb_dir(self):
+        with TemporaryDirectory() as td:
+            nbdir = os.path.join(td, 'notebooks')
+            km = NotebookManager(notebook_dir=nbdir)
+            self.assertEquals(km.notebook_dir, nbdir)
+
+    def test_missing_nb_dir(self):
+        with TemporaryDirectory() as td:
+            nbdir = os.path.join(td, 'notebook', 'dir', 'is', 'missing')
+            self.assertRaises(TraitError, NotebookManager, notebook_dir=nbdir)
+
+    def test_invalid_nb_dir(self):
+        with NamedTemporaryFile() as tf:
+            self.assertRaises(TraitError, NotebookManager, notebook_dir=tf.name)
+
+