diff --git a/bookwyrm/tests/validate_html.py b/bookwyrm/tests/validate_html.py
index 85e5c6277..748b94d5f 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/tests/validate_html.py
+++ b/bookwyrm/tests/validate_html.py
@@ -13,16 +13,26 @@ def validate_html(html):
             "warn-proprietary-attributes": False,
         },
     )
-    # idk how else to filter out these unescape amp errs
+    # Tidy's parser is strict when validating unescaped/encoded ampersands found within
+    # the html document that are notpart of a character or entity reference
+    # (eg: `&` or `&#38`). Despite the fact the HTML5 spec no longer recommends
+    # escaping ampersands in URLs, Tidy will still complain if they are used as query
+    # param keys. Unfortunately, there is no way currently to configure tidy to ignore
+    # this so we must explictly redlist related strings that will appear in Tidy's
+    # errors output.
+    #
+    # See further discussion: https://github.com/htacg/tidy-html5/issues/1017
+    excluded = [
+        "&book",
+        "&type",
+        "&resolved",
+        "id and name attribute",
+        "illegal characters found in URI",
+        "escaping malformed URI reference",
+        "&filter",
+    ]
     errors = "\n".join(
-        e
-        for e in errors.split("\n")
-        if "&book" not in e
-        and "&type" not in e
-        and "&resolved" not in e
-        and "id and name attribute" not in e
-        and "illegal characters found in URI" not in e
-        and "escaping malformed URI reference" not in e
+        e for e in errors.split("\n") if not any(exclude in e for exclude in excluded)
     )
     if errors:
         raise Exception(errors)
diff --git a/bookwyrm/tests/views/shelf/test_shelf.py b/bookwyrm/tests/views/shelf/test_shelf.py
index 492f214e3..b96d0a9ed 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/tests/views/shelf/test_shelf.py
+++ b/bookwyrm/tests/views/shelf/test_shelf.py
@@ -219,3 +219,48 @@ class ShelfViews(TestCase):
             view(request, request.user.username, shelf.identifier)
 
         self.assertEqual(shelf.name, "To Read")
+
+    def test_filter_shelf_found(self, *_):
+        """display books that match a filter keyword"""
+        models.ShelfBook.objects.create(
+            book=self.book,
+            shelf=self.shelf,
+            user=self.local_user,
+        )
+        shelf_book = models.ShelfBook.objects.create(
+            book=self.book,
+            shelf=self.local_user.shelf_set.first(),
+            user=self.local_user,
+        )
+        view = views.Shelf.as_view()
+        request = self.factory.get("", {"filter": shelf_book.book.title})
+        request.user = self.local_user
+        with patch("bookwyrm.views.shelf.shelf.is_api_request") as is_api:
+            is_api.return_value = False
+            result = view(request, self.local_user.username)
+        self.assertIsInstance(result, TemplateResponse)
+        validate_html(result.render())
+        self.assertEqual(result.status_code, 200)
+        self.assertEqual(len(result.context_data["books"].object_list), 1)
+        self.assertEqual(
+            result.context_data["books"].object_list[0].title,
+            shelf_book.book.title,
+        )
+
+    def test_filter_shelf_none(self, *_):
+        """display a message when no books match a filter keyword"""
+        models.ShelfBook.objects.create(
+            book=self.book,
+            shelf=self.shelf,
+            user=self.local_user,
+        )
+        view = views.Shelf.as_view()
+        request = self.factory.get("", {"filter": "NOPE"})
+        request.user = self.local_user
+        with patch("bookwyrm.views.shelf.shelf.is_api_request") as is_api:
+            is_api.return_value = False
+            result = view(request, self.local_user.username)
+        self.assertIsInstance(result, TemplateResponse)
+        validate_html(result.render())
+        self.assertEqual(result.status_code, 200)
+        self.assertEqual(len(result.context_data["books"].object_list), 0)