Set a div width, align div center and text align left

Question

I have a small problem but I can\'t get it solved. I have a content header of 864px width, a background image repeated-y and footer image. Now I have this

Answer 1

All of these answers should suffice. However if you don't have a defined width, auto margins will not work.

I have found this nifty little trick to centre some of the more stubborn elements (Particularly images).

.div {
   position: absolute;
   left: 0;
   right: 0;
   margin-left: 0;
   margin-right: 0;
}