@@ -848,8 +848,12 @@ def __getitem__(self, item):
             return self.columns[item]
         elif isinstance(item, int):
             return self.Row(self, item)
-        elif isinstance(item, (tuple, list)) and all(x in self.colnames
+        elif isinstance(item, (tuple, list)) and all(isinstance(x, six.string_types)
                                                      for x in item):
+            bad_names = [x for x in item if x not in self.colnames]
+            if bad_names:
+                raise ValueError('Slice name(s) {0} not valid column name(s)'
+                                 .format(', '.join(bad_names)))
             out = self.__class__([self[x] for x in item], meta=deepcopy(self.meta))
             out._groups = groups.TableGroups(out, indices=self.groups._indices,
                                              keys=self.groups._keys)
 
@@ -195,6 +195,18 @@ def test_select_columns(self, table_data):
             assert t2.masked == self.t.masked
             assert t2._column_class == self.t._column_class
 
+    def test_select_columns_fail(self, table_data):
+        """Selecting a column that doesn't exist fails"""
+        self.t = table_data.Table(table_data.COLS)
+
+        with pytest.raises(ValueError) as err:
+            self.t[['xxxx']]
+        assert 'Slice name(s) xxxx not valid column name(s)' in str(err)
+
+        with pytest.raises(ValueError) as err:
+            self.t[['xxxx', 'yyyy']]
+        assert 'Slice name(s) xxxx, yyyy not valid column name(s)' in str(err)
+
     def test_np_where(self, table_data):
         """Select rows using output of np.where"""
         t = table_data.Table(table_data.COLS)