diff --git a/__tests__/AnnotationCreation.test.js b/__tests__/AnnotationCreation.test.js
index b3bfeb053dec48de7da38712f0bcc5bf5be2e867..5f79a8291da2447385a5c2ff82ac5120400d13bf 100644
--- a/__tests__/AnnotationCreation.test.js
+++ b/__tests__/AnnotationCreation.test.js
@@ -36,4 +36,16 @@ describe('AnnotationCreation', () => {
     wrapper = createWrapper();
     expect(wrapper.dive().find(TextEditor).length).toBe(1);
   });
+  it('can handle annotations without target selector', () => {
+    wrapper = createWrapper({
+      annotation: {
+        body: {
+          purpose: 'commenting',
+          value: 'Foo bar',
+        },
+        target: {},
+      },
+    });
+    wrapper.dive();
+  });
 });
diff --git a/src/AnnotationCreation.js b/src/AnnotationCreation.js
index c58f4452c61aa3ecdb7e05ae82b8a0d31dceedd2..54d09c628acf4da5703376bc93a83887a3584e21 100644
--- a/src/AnnotationCreation.js
+++ b/src/AnnotationCreation.js
@@ -50,16 +50,18 @@ class AnnotationCreation extends Component {
       } else {
         annoState.annoBody = props.annotation.body.value;
       }
-      if (Array.isArray(props.annotation.target.selector)) {
-        props.annotation.target.selector.forEach((selector) => {
-          if (selector.type === 'SvgSelector') {
-            annoState.svg = selector.value;
-          } else if (selector.type === 'FragmentSelector') {
-            annoState.xywh = selector.value.replace('xywh=', '');
-          }
-        });
-      } else {
-        annoState.svg = props.annotation.target.selector.value;
+      if (props.annotation.target.selector) {
+        if (Array.isArray(props.annotation.target.selector)) {
+          props.annotation.target.selector.forEach((selector) => {
+            if (selector.type === 'SvgSelector') {
+              annoState.svg = selector.value;
+            } else if (selector.type === 'FragmentSelector') {
+              annoState.xywh = selector.value.replace('xywh=', '');
+            }
+          });
+        } else {
+          annoState.svg = props.annotation.target.selector.value;
+        }
       }
     }
     this.state = {