So for all we know, all his work stopped at the camera and someone else worked on the negs. What do you make of that?
It doesn’t surprise me. I have known (worked with or been taught by) a few professional photographers. None of them did their own printing.
Another Magnum photojournalist (who disliked HCB) told me and other students that his work finished when he posted his exposed film to the agency. He claimed the only thing he knew about processing was “always use the developer before the fixer”.
That isn’t how I work, but it isn’t unusual.
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I’ll add that HCB was well-known as an advocate of zero darkroom manipulation. No dodging, no burning, no cropping. This was a common attitude among photojournalists, who wanted to capture the truth of a moment in time. Contrast this with landscape photographers (eg Ansel Adams) who had different goals, and hence different techniques, and welcomed darkroom manipulation. Some photographers (eg Bill Brandt) straddled both camps.
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