Within a few years after Stearn returned from the war, his Art of Botanical Illustration (1950)[140][141] was published, remaining the standard work on the subject to this day. There was, however, some bibliographic confusion[12] – Collins, the publisher, had planned a book on botanical art for its New Naturalist series, but mistakenly commissioned both Stearn and the art historian Wilfred Blunt independently to produce the work. After the error was discovered the two decided to collaborate; Blunt wrote the work while Stearn edited and revised it.