Stearn compiled a major work on the life of John Lindley[36] and produced an edited version of the classic book on herbals by Agnes Arber,[108] one of the influences of his Cambridge years, and whose obituary he would later write for The Times.[109] He also wrote a number of histories of the organisations he worked with[48][61] as well as a number of introductions and commentaries on classic botanical texts such as John Ray's Synopsis methodica stirpium Britannicarum (1691),[110][lower-alpha 15] together with historical introductions to reference books, including Desmond's Dictionary of British and Irish Botanists (1994).[111][1]