He wrote two of the volumes of the Flora, relating to the monocots, for which he received a Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh.

Noltie's research lead him to the University of St Andrews library and to other parts of the RBGE archive where he began to piece together the life story of one of the 19th century's most significant botanists, Hugh Cleghorn.

Book 3, Journeys in Search of Robert Wight, described the author's travels as he carried out the research that underpinned his work.

[9] Noltie edited and wrote the introduction for Wild Flowers: A Sketchbook by the father-and-son team: Canon Raven (1885-1964) theologian, naturalist, and historian of science, and his son John (1914-1980) a classics don and passionate field botanist.

[13] Noltie contributed to the book Forgotten Masters: Indian Painting for the East India Company[14] which accompanied the first UK exhibition at the Wallace Collection, London of works by Indian master painters commissioned by East India Company officials.