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Edwards, a lawyer by training, was inspired to become an etcher by the French artist Henri Fantin-Latour, whom he first met in Paris in 1861. Fantin-Latour made a return visit to Edwards at his Sunbury-on-Thames home and legend has it Edwards decided to become an artist that instant. He installed a press at his home and he and his wife, Ruth, became skilled at printing. Edwards’ subjects were mainly views in the south of England, especially Devon and Cornwall. He was well connected within European artistic circles, befriending and being encouraged in particular by Alphonse Legros and James McNeill Whistler.

In 1861, Edwards made an etching trip along the Thames with Whistler, Fantin-Latour, and Francis Seymour Haden during which he executed a portrait of Whistler sketching. During the course of his career, Edwards completed over three hundred and fifty etchings and published a three-volume work titled Etchings of Old Inns, which was illustrated with 135 of his etchings.