diff --git a/src/libnrtype/Layout-TNG-OutIter.cpp b/src/libnrtype/Layout-TNG-OutIter.cpp
index 3dd02bdffea3442e97e1466a9fbc0b7d244bd3e8..6e648c32a21f0b09074470f66101df783214c618 100644
--- a/src/libnrtype/Layout-TNG-OutIter.cpp
+++ b/src/libnrtype/Layout-TNG-OutIter.cpp
@@ -502,7 +502,7 @@ void Layout::queryCursorShape(iterator const &it, Geom::Point &position, double
                 if (it._glyph_index == -1) {
                     rotation = 0.0;
                 } else if(it._glyph_index == 0) {
-                    rotation = _glyphs[0].rotation;
+                    rotation = _glyphs.empty() ? 0.0 : _glyphs[0].rotation;
                 } else{
                     rotation = _glyphs[it._glyph_index - 1].rotation;
                 }