diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 185082cdc87a638457d5d92efcc8b156bca7882a..798007bd83ae4bf8af373157a7d541a2426d521b 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ matrix:
   - python: 3.2
     env:
     - NUMPYSPEC===1.8.2
+    - SPHINXSPEC=<1.3
   - python: 3.3
     env:
     - NUMPYSPEC===1.8.2
@@ -23,7 +24,7 @@ before_install:
 - sudo apt-get install -qq --force-yes dvipng texlive-latex-base texlive-latex-extra texlive-math-extra texlive-latex-recommended texlive-fonts-recommended
 - if [ -n "${NUMPYSPEC}" ]; then sudo apt-get install -qq gfortran; fi
 - if [ -n "${NUMPYSPEC}" ]; then pip install --find-links http://wheels.astropy.org/ --find-links http://wheels2.astropy.org/ --use-wheel numpy$NUMPYSPEC; fi
-- pip install --find-links http://wheels.astropy.org/ --find-links http://wheels2.astropy.org/ --use-wheel sphinx nose==1.3.0 jinja2==2.6 pygments==1.6 cpp-coveralls
+- pip install --find-links http://wheels.astropy.org/ --find-links http://wheels2.astropy.org/ --use-wheel sphinx$SPHINXSPEC nose==1.3.0 jinja2==2.6 pygments==1.6 cpp-coveralls
 - pip install coveralls
 install:
 - python bootstrap-buildout.py