diff --git a/llama_parse/base.py b/llama_parse/base.py
index b1727b4..bda8b9c 100644
--- a/llama_parse/base.py
+++ b/llama_parse/base.py
@@ -4,7 +4,8 @@
 import mimetypes
 import time
 from pathlib import Path
-from typing import List, Optional, Union
+from typing import AsyncGenerator, List, Optional, Union
+from contextlib import asynccontextmanager
 from io import BufferedIOBase
 
 from llama_index.core.async_utils import run_jobs
@@ -141,6 +142,9 @@ class LlamaParse(BasePydanticReader):
         default=False,
         description="Whether to take screenshot of each page of the document.",
     )
+    custom_client: Optional[httpx.AsyncClient] = Field(
+        default=None, description="A custom HTTPX client to use for sending requests."
+    )
 
     @field_validator("api_key", mode="before", check_fields=True)
     @classmethod
@@ -163,6 +167,15 @@ def validate_base_url(cls, v: str) -> str:
         url = os.getenv("LLAMA_CLOUD_BASE_URL", None)
         return url or v or DEFAULT_BASE_URL
 
+    @asynccontextmanager
+    async def client_context(self) -> AsyncGenerator[httpx.AsyncClient, None]:
+        """Create a context for the HTTPX client."""
+        if self.custom_client is not None:
+            yield self.custom_client
+        else:
+            async with httpx.AsyncClient(timeout=self.max_timeout) as client:
+                yield client
+
     # upload a document and get back a job_id
     async def _create_job(
         self, file_input: FileInput, extra_info: Optional[dict] = None
@@ -231,7 +244,7 @@ async def _create_job(
             data["target_pages"] = self.target_pages
 
         try:
-            async with httpx.AsyncClient(timeout=self.max_timeout) as client:
+            async with self.client_context() as client:
                 response = await client.post(
                     url,
                     files=files,
@@ -257,7 +270,7 @@ async def _get_job_result(
         tries = 0
         while True:
             await asyncio.sleep(self.check_interval)
-            async with httpx.AsyncClient(timeout=self.max_timeout) as client:
+            async with self.client_context() as client:
                 tries += 1
 
                 result = await client.get(status_url, headers=headers)
@@ -447,7 +460,9 @@ def get_json_result(
             else:
                 raise e
 
-    def get_images(self, json_result: List[dict], download_path: str) -> List[dict]:
+    async def aget_images(
+        self, json_result: List[dict], download_path: str
+    ) -> List[dict]:
         """Download images from the parsed result."""
         headers = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {self.api_key}"}
 
@@ -481,11 +496,12 @@ def get_images(self, json_result: List[dict], download_path: str) -> List[dict]:
                         image["page_number"] = page["page"]
                         with open(image_path, "wb") as f:
                             image_url = f"{self.base_url}/api/parsing/job/{job_id}/result/image/{image_name}"
-                            f.write(
-                                httpx.get(
+                            async with self.client_context() as client:
+                                res = await client.get(
                                     image_url, headers=headers, timeout=self.max_timeout
-                                ).content
-                            )
+                                )
+                                res.raise_for_status()
+                                f.write(res.content)
                         images.append(image)
             return images
         except Exception as e:
@@ -495,6 +511,16 @@ def get_images(self, json_result: List[dict], download_path: str) -> List[dict]:
             else:
                 raise e
 
+    def get_images(self, json_result: List[dict], download_path: str) -> List[dict]:
+        """Download images from the parsed result."""
+        try:
+            return asyncio.run(self.aget_images(json_result, download_path))
+        except RuntimeError as e:
+            if nest_asyncio_err in str(e):
+                raise RuntimeError(nest_asyncio_msg)
+            else:
+                raise e
+
     def _get_sub_docs(self, docs: List[Document]) -> List[Document]:
         """Split docs into pages, by separator."""
         sub_docs = []
diff --git a/tests/test_reader.py b/tests/test_reader.py
index 5ebc2ed..091da24 100644
--- a/tests/test_reader.py
+++ b/tests/test_reader.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import os
 import pytest
+from httpx import AsyncClient
 from llama_parse import LlamaParse
 
 
@@ -93,3 +94,18 @@ def test_simple_page_progress_workers() -> None:
     result = parser.load_data([filepath, filepath])
     assert len(result) == 2
     assert len(result[0].text) > 0
+
+
+@pytest.mark.skipif(
+    os.environ.get("LLAMA_CLOUD_API_KEY", "") == "",
+    reason="LLAMA_CLOUD_API_KEY not set",
+)
+def test_custom_client() -> None:
+    custom_client = AsyncClient(verify=False, timeout=10)
+    parser = LlamaParse(result_type="markdown", custom_client=custom_client)
+    filepath = os.path.join(
+        os.path.dirname(__file__), "test_files/attention_is_all_you_need.pdf"
+    )
+    result = parser.load_data(filepath)
+    assert len(result) == 1
+    assert len(result[0].text) > 0