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