"divided his life between the art and banking worlds and came to be well-known and respected in both.... Edmonds did professional engraving for bank note companies while working as a banker....At the behest of publishers, he also wrote for newspapers and periodicals on art and art exhibitions, and at some point in his life produced an autobiography (unpublished) with many details of the early New York art scene.... Amid all this activity, and with a growing family, Edmonds continued producing 2 to 3 paintings a year....

After a brief withdrawal from professional life, Edmonds took up an old activity which had combined his business and artistic talents, the engraving of bank notes. With Alfred Jones and James Smillie he formed the Bank Note Engraving Company in 1857. The next year the American Bank Note Company began to absorb most of its competition, and the three men sold out under favorable terms. Edmonds became director and secretary of the larger company and contributed original drawings for engravings."