diff --git a/rust/src/delta.rs b/rust/src/delta.rs
index dcb55b9bda..bcdc39aef8 100644
--- a/rust/src/delta.rs
+++ b/rust/src/delta.rs
@@ -604,6 +604,13 @@ impl DeltaTable {
                     match e {
                         StorageError::NotFound => {
                             version -= 1;
+                            if version < 0 {
+                                let err = format!(
+                                    "No snapshot or version 0 found, perhaps {} is an empty dir?",
+                                    self.table_uri
+                                );
+                                return Err(DeltaTableError::NotATable(err));
+                            }
                         }
                         _ => return Err(DeltaTableError::from(e)),
                     }
diff --git a/rust/tests/read_error_test.rs b/rust/tests/read_error_test.rs
index 9207938261..a99ed2e638 100644
--- a/rust/tests/read_error_test.rs
+++ b/rust/tests/read_error_test.rs
@@ -11,4 +11,16 @@ async fn read_empty_folder() {
         result.unwrap_err(),
         deltalake::DeltaTableError::NotATable(_),
     ));
+
+    let dir = env::temp_dir();
+    let result = deltalake::open_table_with_ds(
+        &dir.into_os_string().into_string().unwrap(),
+        "2021-08-09T13:18:31+08:00",
+    )
+    .await;
+
+    assert!(matches!(
+        result.unwrap_err(),
+        deltalake::DeltaTableError::NotATable(_),
+    ));
 }