diff --git a/src/fonts.js b/src/fonts.js
index 2884dcb2e..f637fcf09 100644
--- a/src/fonts.js
+++ b/src/fonts.js
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ var kMaxWaitForFontFace = 1000;
 // Unicode Private Use Area
 var kCmapGlyphOffset = 0xE000;
 var kSizeOfGlyphArea = 0x1900;
+var kSymbolicFontGlyphOffset = 0xF000;
 
 // PDF Glyph Space Units are one Thousandth of a TextSpace Unit
 // except for Type 3 fonts
@@ -1648,6 +1649,18 @@ var Font = (function FontClosure() {
           itemEncode(locaData, j, writeOffset);
           startOffset = endOffset;
         }
+
+        if (writeOffset == 0) {
+          // glyf table cannot be empty -- redoing the glyf and loca tables
+          // to have single glyph with one point
+          var simpleGlyph = new Uint8Array(
+            [0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 49, 0]);
+          for (var i = 0, j = itemSize; i < numGlyphs; i++, j += itemSize)
+            itemEncode(locaData, j, simpleGlyph.length);
+          glyf.data = simpleGlyph;
+          return;
+        }
+
         glyf.data = newGlyfData.subarray(0, writeOffset);
       }
 
@@ -1876,7 +1889,7 @@ var Font = (function FontClosure() {
             }
           }
           // if it is, replacing with meaningful toUnicode values
-          if (isIdentity) {
+          if (isIdentity && !this.isSymbolicFont) {
             var usedUnicodes = [], unassignedUnicodeItems = [];
             for (var i = 0, ii = glyphs.length; i < ii; i++) {
               var unicode = toUnicode[i + 1];
@@ -1928,6 +1941,16 @@ var Font = (function FontClosure() {
           }
         }
 
+        // Moving all symbolic font glyphs into 0xF000 - 0xF0FF range.
+        this.symbolicGlyphsOffset = 0;
+        if (this.isSymbolicFont) {
+          for (var i = 0, ii = glyphs.length; i < ii; i++) {
+            var code = glyphs[i].unicode;
+            glyphs[i].unicode = kSymbolicFontGlyphOffset | (code & 0xFF);
+          }
+          this.symbolicGlyphsOffset = kSymbolicFontGlyphOffset;
+        }
+
         // remove glyph references outside range of avaialable glyphs
         for (var i = 0, ii = ids.length; i < ii; i++) {
           if (ids[i] >= numGlyphs)
@@ -2315,7 +2338,8 @@ var Font = (function FontClosure() {
             break;
           }
           if (!this.hasEncoding || this.isSymbolicFont) {
-            unicode = this.useToUnicode ? this.toUnicode[charcode] : charcode;
+            unicode = this.useToUnicode ? this.toUnicode[charcode] :
+              (this.symbolicGlyphsOffset + charcode);
             break;
           }
 
diff --git a/test/pdfs/issue1243.pdf.link b/test/pdfs/issue1243.pdf.link
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..89187f785
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/pdfs/issue1243.pdf.link
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/_files/nash_letters/nash_letters1.pdf
diff --git a/test/pdfs/issue1257.pdf.link b/test/pdfs/issue1257.pdf.link
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5a8bdd15c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/pdfs/issue1257.pdf.link
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+http://hse-econ.fi/tervio/MediocritiesAndSuperstars.pdf
diff --git a/test/test_manifest.json b/test/test_manifest.json
index e9aebdc90..23a0f8ed9 100644
--- a/test/test_manifest.json
+++ b/test/test_manifest.json
@@ -487,5 +487,21 @@
       "rounds": 1,
       "link": true,
       "type": "eq"
+    },
+    {  "id": "issue1243",
+      "file": "pdfs/issue1243.pdf",
+      "md5": "130c849b83513d5ac5e03c6421fc7489",
+      "rounds": 1,
+      "pageLimit": 2,
+      "link": true,
+      "type": "eq"
+    },
+    {  "id": "issue1257",
+      "file": "pdfs/issue1257.pdf",
+      "md5": "9111533826bc21ed774e8e01603a2f54",
+      "rounds": 1,
+      "pageLimit": 2,
+      "link": true,
+      "type": "eq"
     }
 ]