Encyclopedist Alsted has been called 'one of the most important encyclopedists of all time'. He was a prolific writer, and his Encyclopaedia (1630) long had a high reputation. It was preceded by shorter works, including the 1608 Encyclopaedia cursus philosophici. His major encyclopedia of 1630, the Encyclopaedia, Septem Tomis Distincta, was divided into 35 books, and had 48 synoptical tables as well as an index. Alsted described it as "a methodical systemization of all things which ought to be learned by men in this life. In short, it is the totality of knowledge." In its time it was praised by Bernard Lamy and Cotton Mather, and it informed the work of Alsted's student John Amos Comenius. An unfinished encyclopedic project by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz began as a plan to expand and modernize it, and the famous diarist Samuel Pepys purchased a copy in 1660—thirty years after its initial publication. Although Jacob Thomasius criticised it for plagiarism for verbatim copying without acknowledgment, Augustus De Morgan later called it "the true parent of all the Encyclopædias, or collections of treatises, or works in which that character predominates".
Encyclopedist Alsted has been called 'one of the most important encyclopedists of all time' He was a prolific writer and his Encyclopaedia (1630) long had a high reputation It was preceded by shorter works including the 1608 Encyclopaedia cursus philosophici His major encyclopedia of 1630 the Encyclopaedia Septem Tomis Distincta was divided into 35 books and had 48 synoptical tables as well as an index Alsted described it as "a methodical systemization of all things which ought to be learned by men in this life In short it is the totality of knowledge" In its time it was praised by Bernard Lamy and Cotton Mather and it informed the work of Alsted's student John Amos Comenius An unfinished encyclopedic project by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz began as a plan to expand and modernize it and the famous diarist Samuel Pepys purchased a copy in 1660—thirty years after its initial publication Although Jacob Thomasius criticised it for plagiarism for verbatim copying without acknowledgment Augustus De Morgan later called it "the true parent of all the Encyclopædias or collections of treatises or works in which that character predominates"