Using True Type Fonts in XTerm

I’ve not had to use TrueType fonts before as my desktop display resolution never warranted it. Now with eyesight failing and much better monitors, I decided to give them a go. Fonts are globally managed by settings in /etc/X11/app-defaults. However, TrueType fonts can be locally set using ~/.Xresources.
To browse the list of fonts use

fc-list :fontformat=TrueType -f "%{family}\n" | sort -u | less

Test a font by specifyng in the xterm command -fa option

xterm -fa 'Luxi Mono' -fs 10

Where fa refers to the fonts face name, and fs, the font size.

Once happy with your font, apply to your application in ~/.Xresources
For example to apply for XTerm

! my customisations
XTerm*faceName: DejaVu Sans Mono
XTerm*faceSize: 11

The final step is to set these resource changes using xrdb

xrdb -merge .Xresources

So, next time you invoke a plain xterm command you will be greeted with your new font.